Indiana Copyright Litigation: Design Basics Files Three New Indiana Copyright Lawsuits

Northern District of Indiana – Copyright lawyers for Plaintiff Design Basics, LLC of Omaha, Nebraska filed three intellectual property complaints in the Northern District of Indiana alleging copyright infringement.

Plaintiffs are in the business of creating, marketing, publishing and licensing the use of architectural works and technical drawings of those works. Defendants are Indiana home designers and homebuilders.

Defendant in the first lawsuit is Miller Builders Inc. of St. Joseph County, Indiana. In the second lawsuit, two Defendants are listed, Citation Homes, Inc. and Citation Partners, LLC d/b/a Citation Partners, both of Tippecanoe County, Indiana. Defendants in the third lawsuit are Sky Hill Homes, Inc., By Larry Myers d/b/a Sky Hill Homes; Sky Hill Enterprises, LLC; Fall Creek Homes, Inc.; Fall Creek Development Corp. and Barry Light, all of Allen County, Indiana. W. L. Martin Home Designs LLC of Jacksonville, Florida joined as a second Plaintiff in the Sky Hill litigation.

Design Basics asserts that Miller Builders violated the copyright of a single work titled “Plan No. 2244 – Standley,” which has been registered with the U.S. Copyright Office under Certificate Nos. VA 434-218 and 752-162.

Defendants in the Citation and Sky Hill lawsuits are accused of violating multiple copyrighted works. Design Basics contends that Citation Defendants infringed copyrights in the following works:

Title                                       Registration Certificate Nos.
Plan No. 1330 – Trenton           VA 314-016, 694-094 & 756-041
Plan No. 1380 – Paterson         VA 314-024 & 694-094
Plan No. 1748 – Sinclair            VA 371-214, 694-094 & 726-353
Plan No. 1752 – Lancaster        VA 371-204, 694-094 & 756-041

Design Basics and Martin Home Designs list numerous allegations of copyright infringement in the lawsuit against the Sky Hill Defendants:

Title                                      Registration Certificate No.
Plan No. 1019 – Hazelton         VA 314-029, 726-355 & 694-093
Plan No. 1032 – Monte Vista    VA 282-203 & 752-162
Plan No. 1551 – Logan             VA 344-872 & 752-162
Plan No. 2219 – Shannon         VA 434-181, 752-162 & 1-950-217
Plan No. 2235 – Albany            VA 1-929-121, 434-219 & 756-041
Plan No. 2281 – Ingram            VA 434-179, 752-162 & 1-3340447752
Plan No. 3577 – Bennett           VA 682-208, 682-207, 694-095 & 710-605
Plan No. 4642 – Ackerly           VA 1-302-564
Plan No. 8013 – Gabriel Bay     VA 729-243 & 729-218
Plan No. 8031 – Robins Lane    VA 729-280 & 729-256
Plan No. 8103 – Deer Crossing  VA 726-352 & 726-446
Plan No. 8524 – Elgin               VA 1-074-917 & 1-077-469

Defendants in each lawsuit are accused of having infringed the copyrighted architectural works by “copying, publishing, distributing, advertising, marketing, selling and/or constructing in the marketplace” various works, such as plans, drawings and houses, that were copied or otherwise derived from Plaintiffs’ copyrighted works.

Plaintiffs seek damages, injunctive relief, costs and attorneys’ fees.

All three lawsuits were filed in the Northern District of Indiana.

The first case has been assigned to Chief Judge Philip P. Simon and Magistrate Judge Christopher A. Nuechterlein, under Case No. 3:16-cv-00390-PPS-CAN.

The second case has been assigned to Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen and Magistrate Judge Susan L. Collins under Case No. 1:16-cv-00232-JVB-SLC.

The third case has been assigned to Judge Theresa Springmann and Magistrate Judge Susan L. Collins under Case No. 1:16-cv-00247-TLS-SLC.