I have a copyright notice on them. And when the client told me what he was up to, I explained to him that it was "unfair" to allow my competitors to bypass the preliminary design, and potentially underbid me because of that. I did not get upset with him, however, as I still hope to win the job. I'm just hoping that he gets some push back on the other end.
I've been on the other side of this, and I did the right thing: I called the person that made the plans, and make sure everything was above board.
I'm not sure about asking them to pay for the plans if they don't build. I don't like the idea of asking them to commit any funds before they find out what the frame cost will be. That's the point of these preliminary drawings is to get to a point where we can fix a price to it. I'll definitely be more clear in the future about "fair use" of the drawings before I hand them over. CB.
