> Would you be:
>
> A. Proud
I'd be proud. I would write them a letter giving them permission to distribute it with my logo and stamp left on, but if they didn't act on it I wouldn't let it bother me. After all, its a recorded public document - there is no additional liability.
And if I had a website, I'd crow about there.
> 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...
An example of 'How to do it'?
What would you say if your plat was shown as 'How NOT to do it" example?
DDSM:beer:
If the planning department has it, is it a recorded public document?
Jim, with all due respect I tend to be with the PO'd crowd gang. I would go WAY above said planner monkey and point out the ramifications of HIS/HER actions by usurping you to HIS/HER boss. Just don't shoot yourself in the foot IMHO. After all, we are in business to make money, not give shyte away. Yea, the idiot was wrong but that is the way of the world these days :-S
I don't think you can copyright a survey drawing anyway. Putting the disclaimer may give warm & fuzzies, but recording it makes it public record and no different than a deed or a tax ID number that we always require. I'd tend to lose that course of action and take things to a much higher power.
Something of public record around here is something that is recorded in the Clerk and Recorders and has a recording number. Not sure about something that might be held for a specific purpose by the "Planning Department". Perhaps it can be acquired by use of an "Open Records" request, but I don't know.
Also, if something is of public record and officially recorded in the public records, does someone who acquires that public record have a right to alter it?
(Not playing devils advocate here, or voicing an opinion. I don't know).
> If the planning department has it, is it a recorded public document?
Perhaps not recorded, but I think that it would be a public document.
Gotcha on that concept Mark, and agree. Part of one of the many phone calls I make before I even get a project is to planning/zoning. I call the county surveyor, the city guys, other surveyors, anybody else I can think of. Then I can put some dollar figure to things, but without some background knowledge we come off like idiots. No thank you very much...;-)
Once I actually do get the job, I further track it down and get some documents in hand. The gobm't guys here are very accessible and very willing to help out. As are my fellow peers who are also very willing to join in, and I like that stuff and I would do the same for them and have over the years. Heck, I want people to accept my corners, and if a surveyor calls and asks WTF I'll dig out records and tell them. No, I'm not perfect either.
Jim just seemed to be a bit butt hurt from some planning monkey usurping him, and likely looking for a bit of denero for his time. I'd do the same, and deservedly so. And yes, AZ is a recording state.
> > If the planning department has it, is it a recorded public document?
> Perhaps not recorded, but I think that it would be a public document.
I know I'm getting nit-picky, but I think there is an important distinction to be made having to do with even the name "Planning" department. These things often aren't finalized documents and are perhaps subject to change. How many homeowners have come up to a surveyor and said "I got a Survey Right here and it disagrees with what you are telling me." only to find that, upon inspection it is some other type of document and says somewhere on it that "this is not a Survey Plat" (or boundary map or whatever your state calls it). I suggest that it may or may not be a public document, and if it ever develops into one, that is when it gets recorded and becomes an official legal (and public) document.
Any of you interested in copyright law might find "Copyright Basics for Surveyors" by Knud Hermansen interesting. I'm sure it can be found on the University of Maine website.
I'd post the document but I'm worried about copyright violation...;-)