The complaint
Triangle Residential Designs v. Dukes Properties & Construction, LLC, No. 5:26-cv-00875 (E.D.N.C., Western Division), was filed November 3, 2026, ECF No. 1 (6 pages). Triangle Residential Designs is described as a family-owned residential design firm in the Raleigh-Durham area, organized as a sole proprietorship. Dukes Properties & Construction, LLC is described as a North Carolina limited liability company based in Raleigh, North Carolina. A docket minute entry on November 4, 2026, selected the case for mediation. The same plaintiff filed E.D.N.C. No. 4:26-cv-00245 the same day.
The work
The complaint says Triangle Residential Designs holds a copyright in architectural plans titled "Plan #2470 Marietta Court Duplex" (the "Marietta Plans"), registered as U.S. Copyright Registration No. VA 2-432-333, designed by the firm's owner and lead designer, and attaches the plans and registration as Exhibit A. The Copyright Office public record for Registration No. VA 2-432-333 shows a work titled "Plan #2470 Marietta Court Duplex," with a registration date of October 17, 2024, and a date of first publication of September 26, 2022, listing Triangle Residential Designs as author (as employer for hire, authorship: architectural work) and claimant. The complaint says the plans' copyright management information in page footers includes the year of publication 2022 and the copyright owner name Triangle Residential Designs, on eight pages.
What the complaint alleges
The complaint alleges that a commercial property builder commissioned the Marietta Plans around September 2022, that the plans were finalized around September 26, 2022, that a superintendent for Dukes received a copy after a recommendation, and that the firm and Dukes communicated by email about the plans and the firm finalized a proposal around November 29, 2022, but they never entered an agreement and never authorized use of the plans. It alleges that around November 2023 the firm learned Dukes built a duplex in Raleigh using copies of the Marietta Plans, that plans for that project obtained from the City of Raleigh, attached as Exhibit B, are a near identical match, and that Dukes removed the copyright notice from the footer of each page of the detail sheets. It alleges, upon information and belief, that units at the Raleigh duplex sold around July 2, 2024, and August 2, 2024, for six hundred sixty thousand dollars and six hundred fifty thousand dollars.
Claims and relief
Count I is copyright infringement under 17 U.S.C. § 501. Count II is removal and alteration of copyright management information under 17 U.S.C. § 1202. The prayer seeks actual and nominal damages; disgorgement of ill-gotten gains; statutory damages under 17 U.S.C. § 1203(c)(3)(B); costs and attorneys' fees pursuant to 15 U.S.C. § 1117(a) and 17 U.S.C. § 1203(b)(5), as cited in the complaint; and other relief.