My Home is My Castle

Some months ago, there were reports that a Chinese construction company “pirated” what appears to be a unique original work of architecture, designed by Iraqi-British star-architect Zaha Hadid. Latest news (here and here) tell us that the accused “Meiquan 22nd Century” (to be built in Chongqing, China) will be probably completed even prior to the original “Wangjing SOHO” (in Beijing, China).

While copyright law should provide a powerful response to this intra-China IP stalking (according to the reports above “Wangjing SOHO and Chongqing Meiquan have entered judicial proceedings”), registered design rights also appear to be interesting provided that the overall impression of the earlier building has been caught in some helpful representations (either digital images or, even better, line drawings). Instructive guidance, from a European perspective, was provided by OHIM’s Invalidity Division in AUDI AG v Röder Zelt- und Veranstaltungsservice GmbH to be found here, where the Office considered a later registered Community design covering “tents” to be new and to have individual character over a prior design of a building (in that case, due to existing differences, the Office denied copyright infringement, i.e., “use of the work”). It will be interesting to see how the “Wangjing SOHO” case will make its way from the news through the court houses …

Original "Wangjing SOHO" 

Reported copy "Meiquan 22nd Century"