Nelson-Salabes, Inc. v. Morningside Holdings
United States District Court for the District of Maryland
2001 WL 419002 (2001)
Nelson-Salabes (Nelson) (plaintiff) designed an approved assisted-living facility, Satyr Hill, featuring a distinctive three-story Y-shaped building with an octagonal entrance silo, bay windows, and gabled vertical protrusions. After Morningside Holdings (defendant) bought the approved site and dropped Nelson as architect, it directed new architects to make only minor changes to the design so the existing county approval could still be used, producing a building with the same Y-shape, octagonal silo, brick first floor, and gabled protrusions. Nelson sued for copyright infringement of its registered architectural plans.
Whether architectural works receive copyright protection for their arrangement of features and overall design under 17 U.S.C. § 101.