What a design professional provides is a service, not a product.
Professional liability insurance rates for design professionals are based on
this concept.  A design professional is held to a "standard of care" that is
comparable to their peers, and court decisions regarding liability are based
on this concept.  This is why most design professional would resist
delivering ownership of the drawings and designs to their clients.  If they
do so, then the courts might interpret that they are providing a "product"
instead of a service.  "Products" are held to a more stringent
interpretation of liability that would generally be un-insurable to a design
professional.

I suspect (but do not know for a fact) that naval architects work under much
the same legal contraints as us land-based architects.
Shane Lyle, Principal
Lyle Associates Architects, Inc.
182 N. Mill St.
Lexington, KY  40507
w: (859) 233-3323
f: (859) 255-1369

-----Original Message-----
From: Shane Lyle
Subject: design copyrights

What a design professional provides is a service, not a product.
Professional liability insurance rates for design professionals are based on
this concept.  A design professional is held to a "standard of care" that is
comparable to their peers, and court decisions regarding liability are based
on this concept.  This is why most design professional would resist
delivering ownership of the drawings and designs to their clients.  If they
do so, then the courts might interpret that they are providing a "product"
instead of a service.  "Products" are held to a more stringent
interpretation of liability that would generally be un-insurable to a design
professional.

REPLY
It is a sad commentary on our society when the possible threat of frivolous
litigation is so large that Professional  people are deterred from doing some
legitimate  work  because of this threat.

I'm not suggesting that  they not be held accountable  for their  work but  it
is equally  obvious that  the  trend in court decisions, to award  plaintiffs
damages  in extraordinary amounts related to what is at times frivolous
matters,  has gone beyond reasonable bounds.

Over the past few years  more than one individual has seriously advised me to
not  provide advice or service precisely for that reason.
In their estimation the potential for a lawsuit is too great to justify  taking
the risk.

No wonder  it is becoming harder and harder to find competent people willing to
do actual work on boats. Especially  work involving design and installation of a
system.

Only those with nothing to lose or  a total indifference to the possible
ramifications will remain to do the  work required.
Is that the kind of marine service industry we want?  I doubt it!

cheers

Arild

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