Title 17, CopyrightsRelease 119-110
§120 Scope of Exclusive Rights in Architectural Works
Title 17 › CHAPTER 1 — SUBJECT MATTER AND SCOPE OF COPYRIGHT › § 120
Summary
People may take, share, and show pictures, photos, or paintings of a building that has been built and is in or visible from a public place; the building’s copyright cannot stop those images. Even though section 106(2) applies, a building owner may alter or demolish the building without the architect’s permission.
Full Legal Text
Title 17, §120
Copyrights, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)Pictorial Representations Permitted.—
The copyright in an architectural work that has been constructed does not include the right to prevent the making, distributing, or public display of pictures, paintings, photographs, or other pictorial representations of the work, if the building in which the work is embodied is located in or ordinarily visible from a public place.
(b)Alterations to and Destruction of Buildings.—
Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106(2), the owners of a building embodying an architectural work may, without the consent of the author or copyright owner of the architectural work, make or authorize the making of alterations to such building, and destroy or authorize the destruction of such building.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
Section applicable to any architectural work created on or after Dec. 1, 1990, and any architectural work, that, on Dec. 1, 1990, is unconstructed and embodied in unpublished plans or drawings, except that protection for such architectural work under this title terminates on Dec. 31, 2002, unless the work is constructed by that date, see section 706 of Pub. L. 101–650, set out as an
Effective Date
of 1990 Amendment note under section 101 of this title.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
17 U.S.C. § 120
Title 17, Copyrights
Last Updated
Sep 22, 2026
Release point: 119-110