Intellectual Property in Architecture: Between Legislations and Ethical Manifestations with Special Reference to the Egyptian Case

Several international and local legislations have been enacted to protect intellectual property rights. Nevertheless, legislations cannot alone provide protection for architects, and defend the right of owners over architectural products. The importance of this research paper is derived from the hypothesis that accepting, fostering and valuing intellectual property in architecture education and practice are similarly essential to enacting laws. This paper is an analytical discussion of intellectual property in general and particularly in architecture, it is structured in four sections; the first provides a conceptual foundation about intellectual property; the second discusses the issue from an ethical point of view; the third demonstrates various opinions about intellectual property rights; and the last reviews some manifestations in the Egyptian society which affect the intellectual property rights in both the architectural education and practice. Finally, the paper concludes that the lack of awareness among students of architecture as well as practicing architects about intellectual property rights might lead- unintentionally- to violations, infringements, and consequently disputes. In addition, respecting intellectual property would rather begin during the years of architectural education as an ethical behavior which will continue to regulate the architectural professional practice. Besides, architects need to understand their rights which are granted by the intellectual property legislations in order to consequently secure an atmosphere of fair competition among architects.

Eweda, Nehad Mohamed. "Intellectual Property in Architecture: Between Legislations and Ethical Manifestations with Special Reference to the Egyptian Case." In ArchNet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research, vol. 5, issue 3 (2011).

Nehad Mohamed Eweda