How to report potential infringements of the protected title “architect” and its derivatives

The use of the word "architect" is legally protected in Australia.
Image by Tingey Injury Law Firm via Unsplash.

This is Part 5 of the “Architect” / Salary / Well-being series. Read Part 1 on legal protections for the word architect here, Part 2 on architects’ salaries here, Part 3 - which collates readers responses so far - here, and Part 4 on the Architecture magic bullet - here.

The first thing to understand about the protected title of “architect” and its various derivative words – architecture, architectural, and compound forms like landscape and naval architect – is that there are different rules in each Australian state and territory.

In the first article in this series, I included links to the Architects Act, so I encourage you to visit the website of your local Board to check the specifics around the legal protections that exist in your jurisdiction.

You can find Part 1, here.

So, if you spot a potential infringement – where someone is using one of the protected title words in a way that’s outside their prescribed uses in the Act – and you’d like to take action, what should you do?

I’ve set out a 4-step process below, and I strongly recommend you read through all of the steps before you decide to launch into reporting, because there may actually be a more beneficial use of your time and energy, depending on the outcome you’d like to achieve.

Step 1: Check the local Act and what uses are allowed

The Part 1 article referenced above provides an example of the words that are protected and permitted in Western Australia (where I am based), and it also outlines the uses that are allowed in relation to other professions and disciplines.

Most states and territories publish similar guidelines and FAQs about their Acts and how they are applied, so I encourage you to refer to these explainers in the first instance, to determine the acceptable and unacceptable uses of the protected words in your jurisdiction.

Step 2: Check whether the person you suspect of infringing the Act is a registered architect

Most of the State and Territory Boards of Architects offer a search function that enables you to determine whether a person is a registered architect, or a practice has a registered nominated architect within their team.

So do a few searches to check the Board’s records in the state or territory where the potential infringement has taken place. If you’re concerned about a practice, bear in mind that another person - apart from the owner or principal - could be the nominated architect, so make sure you check the registration details thoroughly before moving on to Step 3.

It’s worth noting at this point that in the case of some types of protected title professions, for example pharmacies, legal protections exist to ensure that a pharmacy business can only be owned by pharmacists. But these same protections don’t extend to architecture practices, as far as I know.

So, if you can’t find a record of the person or practice’s registration details, it’s time to start assembling your case to report to the relevant Board. Take screenshots of the location where the suspected infringement has occurred (website, email, social media profiles, social media posts, etc) where you spotted the potential infringement.

Step 3: Contact your relevant Board of Architects and ask them to investigate

I received this email from a company that purports to be an “architectural design” firm, but I couldn’t find any evidence of their registration on the SA Board’s website.

If you’ve determined that the use of the protected title or derivative words is potentially infringing the relevant Act, and that the person/practice you suspect of committing the infringement is not a registered Architect according to the relevant Board, you’re ready to ask the Board to investigate.

Anyone can report a potential infringement to the relevant Board of Architects, and they can make the appropriate enquiries to investigate and ensure compliance with the Act.

You can send the Board an email setting out the particulars – including the name of the person/business, evidence of the potential infringement in the form of screenshots or links to online locations, and confirmation that you’ve checked their registration status on the registration database.

I have emailed various Boards over the past few years to draw their attention to possible infringements. In my experience, the Board doesn’t usually provide any feedback to the reporter about the outcomes of their investigations, but a quick check of the location where you spotted the infringement may provide clarity around whether an infringement was identified and remedial action was taken to tidy up public statements about the types of services they provide.

Step 4: Is it worth your while to report potential infringements?

Now that you know how to determine whether a potential infringement has taken place, and what steps you can take to report it, one final question remains.

Is it actually worth your while to actually go through these steps, or might your energy be better spent on other business development and marketing tasks to promote your own practice and services to your ideal clients?

The way I see it, there are two possible answers to the question about whether it’s worth your while to report potential infringements, and I encourage you to consider both of these before you make up your mind about the best course of action for you.

Answer one: Yes, you should report potential infringements to the Board

It may be a worthwhile use of your time and energy to report potential infringements to the Board, because it’s important for architects to differentiate their roles and responsibilities in the wider community and the marketplace where they operate. It is useful for architects to distinguish their services from those provided by other design professionals and service providers, especially people who are not registered architects.

In my experience, there is little awareness or recognition across the broader community about the roles and responsibilities that registered architects are obliged to comply with, so monitoring the use of the protected title helps to demarcate registered architects from other professionals offering design services.

Reporting potential infringements ensures that non-registered service providers - including draftspeople, building and interior designers, and project and custom home builders - can’t trade off the protected title, and helps to build awareness around the architects’ education, skills, knowledge, experience and expertise among future clients, government regulators and policy makers, and the broader community.

Answer two: No, you should spend your energy on more beneficial business development and marketing tasks

While taking action to report potential infringements to the relevant Board is one way of elevating the entire profession – in that it helps to weed out service providers who may be claiming to offer architectural services, when they are not registered – it does very little to elevate your own practice or services to the potential clients you are appealing to.

For this reason, I recommend that if you are considering spending time preparing a report about a potential infringement, that time might be better spent on your own business development and marketing activities.

If you feel aggrieved about a potential infringement, and you’re not sure whether to take action by reporting to the Board or not, you might find the following question prompts helpful:

• What is the architect or practice that you suspect of potentially infringing the Act doing that rankles you? (ie, is it that they have an advertising budget and are promoting their own services to a market that you are actively pursuing? That they tend to win more or better projects than your practice? That they’re designed outcomes aren’t as “good” as yours?)

• Are there enough potential clients in your target market for them to thrive and for your practice to thrive, or do you see yourself more like seagulls squabbling over a meagre couple of chips?

• If the Board did take action against the person or practice that has potentially infringed the Act, would that action make a material difference to your practice / revenue / client and project pipeline?

These are difficult questions to consider, but they may help you to determine the best course of action for you and your practice.

Stay tuned for Part 6 of this series, where we’ll look back over all the issues discussed so far and put forward our conclusions about the new opportunities that architects can take advantage of.

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Find out more about SLD’s business development and marketing services for architects:

Sounds Like Design developed the Six Channel System of business development and marketing for architects, to help practice owners and directors to create or enhance their client and project pipeline, to win more of the work they love.

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