In the Courts: Bridging Moral Rights and Public Utility

• Author: Dr. Juan José Marín López

Calatrava's bridge was heralded as a symbol of the new Bilbao. Photo: Josean Prado (2006)

Two bridges

Here are the facts. The world renowned Spanish architect, Santiago Calatrava, was commissioned by the Bilbao municipal authorities to design and oversee the construction of a bridge over the river Nervión, which runs through the middle of the city. The bridge was part of Bilbao's urban development project to unite the two sides of the river. Construction was completed in May 1997, and the work was received by the city Council to their apparent satisfaction. The bridge, known by its Basque name Zubi Zuri (white bridge) became one of the city's landmark attractions.

Unhappy with this situation, Mr. Calatrava took legal action against the Bilbao city council and the two companies responsible for constructing the footbridge extension. He claimed infringement of his moral right to the integrity of his work, citing the fact that the extension had been added without his authorization, and nor had his permission been sought for the removal of part of the balustrade. He demanded that the bridge be restored to its original state and Isozaki's walkway demolished, plus 250,000 euros for moral damages and publication of the judgment in the national and specialist press. Alternatively, if the bridge could not be restored, he requested a compensation payment of euros 3 million.

The arguments

The case, which came before the Bilbao Court in November 2007, attracted widespread interest. Among the most hotly disputed points was the central question of whether Spanish copyright law includes the protection of architectural works. Spain's 1987 Intellectual Property Law (article 10.1) refers to the protection of the "plans, drawings, scale models and designs of architectural and engineering works." The way that this is expressed legally could be interpreted to mean that the protection applies only to the plans, drawings, models and designs relating to the work, but not to the final work itself resulting from the construction which was planned or designed by the architect.

Judge Edmundo Rodríguez Achútegui did not accept this restrictive interpretation. He recalled that the list of protected works in the Spanish law was not an exhaustive numerus clausus (closed number), and that the key criterion for protection was that the architectural work must be original. He also recalled the...