Lawrence, NY – A Five Towns designer who says that her copyrighted house plans were used without permission to build a nearly identical house in a neighboring village is suing the homeowners and their architects for copyright infringement.
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Rivka Fortgang, CEO of Riki Fortgang Interior Designs, copyrighted the original architectural drawings for her Lawrence home built in 2005, as reported by the New York Post (http://goo.gl/ywglNZ). The house, located south of Broadway on Auerbach Lane, is described in court papers as having a “visually distinctive and unique exterior stucco facade” and was copyrighted under the name “Fortgang Residence I.”
Mrs. Fortgang and her husband Seth are claiming that their plans were illegally accessed through the Village of Lawrence Building Department by Pereiras Architects Ubiquitous, a New Jersey based architecture firm, and Ari and Daniella Schwartz of Cedarhurst. The plans were then reportedly incorporated into the blueprints for the Schwartz’s planned house on Villa Place, a Cedarhurst cul de sac located one mile away from the Fortgang residence.
Attorney Steven Stern sent a cease and desist letter on behalf of the Fortgangs to the Schwartzes on June 7th, saying that while their Villa Place home is still in the early stages of construction, it is almost a twin of the Fortgang house.
“There is no doubt that you have accessed and intentionally copied the plans of the Fortgang residence intending to create a replica of our clients’ home and distinctive exterior,” wrote Stern.
According to court papers, the Schwartzes agreed to amend the plans for the exterior of their home, but Stern said that the new plans incorporate only minimal changes, prompting the Fortgangs to file suit today in Long Island Federal Court against the Schwartzes, Pereiras Architects Ubiquitous and the Friedman Group LLC.
In the lawsuit, Mrs. Fortgang also claimed that the entire situation has tarnished both her business and her reputation.
The Fortgangs are suing for unspecified damages.
No comments on the matter were available from Stern, Pereiras Architects Ubiquitous or the Schwartz’s attorney, Daniel Schloss.
I don’t understand, these houses are only temporary
It is genaiva to steel another yids intellectual property as with steeling songs when copying music. It is possible the poor home owners had no idea but the architect’s who sold the plans to those homeowners have to pay up, shame on them! Kudos to Ricky and Shabtai, go get em!!!!!!
Taake ah probblaim !!!
Oh come on stop being such a baby, Be happy you BH have a nice comfortable house to live in just let go & move on! & as for the Architects just take it as a compliment that someone liked your designs so much that went & copied it. It won’t affect your Parnosseh just the opposite.
Having done extensive research in this field, I can tell you that this is absolutely going nowhere. Unless the architect is the one suing. The architect of record is always the one holding the intellectual property and he has the right to reuse the plans at his discretion. The only way the homeowners can restrict the architect from prototyping the plans is if there was a specific agreement when they retained and contacted with the architect. Now, let’s say it was someone else that copied the house, it would have to be an exact replica of the house or it would have to be a specific unique feature that was copied that hasn’t been done before. That is extremely unlikely. If anyone looks at the two pictures posted, one can see neither. I would venture to say that the guy trying to copy did a pretty lousy job and has either accomplished to copy the “look” without copying the architectural plan totally messed up his “copy”.
I don’t see anything extraordinary about this house. Looks similar to many others.
This lawsuit has no basis in Halacha, it’s legal Geniva. I have every right to copy any house I like
How far we have fallen… Try to even imagine what our grandparents who went through a Holocaust would say about such a childish thing…
i copied the buckingham palace with no law suit
When we have 60000 homeless people in New York City every night, many people will RESENT the pettiness and self importance of these people suing over nothing. This is how low some have sunk, it is so true that each generation is weaker than the one that came before.
I see no similarity in the design. I see a similarity in how someone painted and selected the exterior detailing (such as the doors and windows).
Mrs. Fortgang claims her business and reputation have been tarnished?? Seriously??? How exactly??? How about just appreciating all you have and nonbeing so materialistic and egoistic…..somone built a house that looks like your? How does that effect your life. Pathetic.
I hope she sleeps well at night…that’s what happens when your mind is preoccupied with nonsense and your life is devoid of spirituality. Nebech.
Neither house is pretty…rather dull.
Lol. Why is this story news worthy?
First World problems…
why is this newsworthy???? kidding? the fact that someone can sue someone else for something so ridiculous is absolutely newsworthy.
Wow, 21 comments. We should add an architecture lawsuit to stories about Yeshiva boys not being told they need to work after marriage and not ask for any money, that there are sufficient knowledgeable female teachers to staff our girls schools and seminaries and that no male teachers should be accepted and that its ok to have flaws and we shouldn’t go branding everyone left and right. Then, these more important issues will draw more comments and discussion and thereby hopefully trigger a popular movement for change.
When people in the 5-Towns are busy with issues like this, is it any wonder why Mashiach isn’t here yet?
לא תחמוד בית רעיך
Apparently, these people did not learn the lesson of the Meraglim. Chazal say that since the people cried and complained for no reason, G-d will given them a reason to cry in the future. Such repulsive vanity!
I actually saw the same house in Lakewood last week.
Rich people’s problems, and I am struggling here making ends meat.
Typical MCMANSIONS nothing special, sorry to disappoint the owners of both. I’m not impressed.
First World problems…
i only read this story to see why so many are commenting. this seems bizarre. tempest in a teapot.
In the US we live with copyright infringement laws. This protects people’s proffesional hard work they may have put in many years to achieve. This also applies to architecture and structures.
If I was the guy being sued, I would immediately be mazmin them to bais din for going to arkaos, and have them put in cherem.
They don’t look similar at all. what problems these lunatics have…..
A jury should award this cry baby a box of tissues……
I would venture to say that most of the people commenting on this story have at least one ArtScroll book. Open one up and look at the strongly worded copyright statement in the front. They have copyrighted everything—the layout, the style, the punctuation, etc. No one would be so foolish as to challenge that company; after all, it is well-known and probably has a lot of very good lawyers who specialize in intellectual property laws.
What most people have failed to realize is that intellectual property law applies to everyone, not just to companies you admire. If it is determined that the second family used copyrighted architectural plans in order to build their own house, then the house designer should get damages.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen VIN commenters react b’kol echod like this ever before: feh.