Architectural Copyright

Similar? Substantially Similar? Virtually Identical?


Space Analytics has provided expert testimony on some of the largest architectural copyright cases: retail, garden apartments, tall buildings, very large luxury houses, hospitality, and custom houses typically found in wealthy suburbs. The large cases are the following:



  • A 12,000-square-foot luxury house in Beverly Hills
  • Luxury garden apartment buildings
  • A major hotel and casino in Las Vegas
  • A high-rise condominium just north of Miami
  • A trade dress case in Castle Rock
  • A 12,000-square-foot luxury house in Beverly Hills

    Our testimony in Hablinski v. Amir led to a federal court upholding an award of $5.9 million in damages to the plaintiff, the largest for an architectural copyright case in the United States. The exterior was substantially similar, and even though the rooms had different names, the interior layout was over 95% identical.

  • Luxury garden apartment buildings

    In Phoenix (Humphreys v. Tibsherany) and Las Vegas (Tibsherany v. Built Form). In the former, we showed the defendant's floor plans and façades did not meet the substantial similarity test, while in the latter, they did.

  • A major hotel and casino in Las Vegas

    In Davidson v. USA and USPS, the United States Postal Service wanted to show the Statue of Liberty copy at the New York Hotel and Casino as part of the architecture. Our testimony clearly showed no part of the sculpture or its immediate context could be considered architecture, and the plaintiff was awarded $3.5 million in damages.

  • A high-rise condominium just north of Miami

    In Oravec v. Sunny Isles, we showed substantial similarities in almost every aspect of the two building designs and that the defendant design firm had never designed a building like that of the plaintiff. But the appeals court ruled the original (the top one) was simply a concept.

  • A trade dress case in Castle Rock

    Involving an existing factory outlet mall and a nearby proposed factory outlet mall, we showed that the footprints, spatial patterns, windows, and façade elements of the proposed mall were substantially similar to the existing one.