Facts
The Swiss Confederation operates the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) as an autonomous public-law institution. Due to increasing student numbers and technical developments, a medium- and long-term development concept for the Hönggerberg site was developed, which provides for an expansion of the facilities by a total of 80,000 m2 of main usable area.
Architect Albert H. Steiner, who had designed the first expansion stage at Hönggerberg, filed a lawsuit against the "ELEMENTAR" project for the third expansion stage. He claimed that the existing facility constituted a copyrighted overall work that would be mutilated and distorted by the expansion project, which would severely violate his honor as the author.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit. It stated that the architect's copyright is generally absolute, but finds a spatial limit at the claimed and built-up space. Copyright does not give rise to a claim for architectural harmonization or keeping the building environment free.
For indirect interventions in…