Briggs AnalyticsFree tool · Engineering and design firms
Whose drawings are these?
A big archive is not the same as an archive you can license. Answer six quick questions and see which piles are clearly yours, which need a contract check, and which belong to your customers.
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How this works
Four steps, about as many minutes.
- Answer six questions about where your files came from.
- Each pile of files gets green, yellow or red.
- Every yellow and red comes with a one-line fix.
- Get the rights summary by email to take to your customer or lawyer.
The question that kills the most engineering deals
A machine shop can hold forty thousand drawings and own the rights to a quarter of them. The rest came from customers, were built to a customer's spec under an NDA, or were developed together with a customer who expects a say. None of that is obvious from a file count.
That is why this check sorts by where the work came from, not how much of it there is. Your own product designs are usually the cleanest pile. Tooling, fixtures and molds you designed to make a customer's part sit in the middle, since the tooling design may be yours even when the part is not. Drawings a customer sent you are usually theirs.
Where to look
The answers mostly live in three places: your customer contracts and purchase order terms, any NDAs, and the paperwork from any company you bought. A short clause about drawings, tooling or intellectual property usually settles it. If you can not find one, mark the pile as needing a check rather than guessing.
This is a checklist, not legal advice. Confirm anything yellow or red with your own lawyer or contracts lead before you include it.
Questions about this tool.
Do I own tooling I designed for a customer part?
Often the tooling design is yours even when the part design is the customer's, but contracts and purchase order terms can say otherwise. That is why tooling comes back yellow until you check.
What if my contracts say nothing about drawings?
Silence is not the same as permission. Mark that pile as needing a check and ask your lawyer how your state and your terms treat it.
Can I just leave the customer files out?
Yes. Most owners who move ahead license only their own designs and leave customer-supplied work out entirely. A smaller clean archive beats a bigger messy one.
Is this legal advice?
No. It is a checklist that shows you where to look. Confirm anything yellow or red with your own lawyer or contracts lead.
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Costs you nothing · five quick questions · about a minute · no files
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