What would you do?

I would say proud, but pissed off. Copyright infringement, especially deliberately leaving off the author credit to the best of my knowlege is a criminal offence

Does your seal have your name and PLS number on it?

Free advertising?

Use this information as commerce for future approvals...

Awkward. You'd think they'd ask your permission first.

Locally, it would depend upon which town it was.

I am outside any city limits at least 7mi and there are a dozen within a half hour drive.

Most of them, I would not give it another thought.

One of them, I would take an hour and half drive and get an attorney that would eat them for lunch and make them pay us both a lot of money.

B-)

:good:

I would be flattered, and possibly keep it on my person when submitting any documents..."Hey, look, I am the STANDARD."

Somebody asked Max Baer(sp?) how he felt, or if it was OK, when somebody called him Jethro. (Max played the Jethro Bodine character on the Beverly Hillbillies sitcom).
He replied, "Well, it's kind of like somebody calling you a son-of-a-bltch. If it's your friend, then it's OK."

So, are they your friend?

You should be upset, because, as Groucho would say:

"I wouldn't give credibility to any organization that would have me as a standard".

proud

> If you discovered that without your knowledge your City Planning Department had taken one of your sealed drawings, whited out your company name and address, signature and printed name in your seal (but left the seal) and was distributing it as an "example" drawing?
>
> Would you be:
>
> A. Proud
> B. Annoyed
> C. Pissed Off
> D. Any combination of the above
>
> P.S. The drawing was copyrighted...

Being in a recording state, the recorded survey is a public document. I would (after speaking with an attorney) contact the person responsible & let them know that altering and distributing the recorded work of a professional is probably not going to be tolerated. If they want to use it - hey great - but DO NOT alter it in any way. If they want a generic document to use as an example, I would happily provide one for them upon asking - but do not alter my work product.

Go have a friendly conversation. It sounds pretty harmless.

:good: :good:

I take a very dim view of others altering my documents.

If they wanted to use my work as an example I would ask that they tell me and let me provide the appropriate version to use.

Larry P

"Does your seal have your name and PLS number on it?"

Nope - but you can see part of my signature that they didn't whiteout...

"Being in a recording state, the recorded survey is a public document."

That does not remove nor diminish the copyright protection...

Removing Title Block Is An Offense In Some States

By anyone.

If I am providing a drawing to be used by another professional, I provide a copy, without title block and a reference to my signed sealed original.

Paul in PA

> "Being in a recording state, the recorded survey is a public document."
>
> That does not remove nor diminish the copyright protection...

Which is pretty much zero for survey maps, recording state or not. If you use unique graphic elements (e.g. an unusual title block or fancy north arrow) those are subject to copyright protection, but generic map features and dimensions aren't protected. And in order to enforce copyright protection, you'd have to convince a court that there was some real harm done.

The public agency that used the map without consulting its creator is guilty of poor judgment and lack of professional courtesy, but probably not on the hook for any damages.

I always put little smileys on everything Larry sends me.

If one were to perforrm surveying

services for the City of Houston, a copyright would not allowed on the drawings, as the drawings ultimate destination is the COH File Room and, therefore, become public property.