Childs dismisses student's lawsuit.

A lawsuit by former Yale University student Thomas Shine claiming David Childs copied his design for the World Trade Center Freedom Tower is without merit, according to a spokesperson for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, that is also named in the suit.

Last week, Shine filed suit in US District Court in Manhattan seeking unspecified damages for what he said was the theft of designs for buildings he had titled "Olympic Tower" and "Shine '99."

Shine alleges that Childs saw his designs when the WTC architect served on a panel of jurists invited by the Yale School of Architecture to evaluate the students' work in December 1999.

Although the design may have similarities, Shine's accusations are unfounded, according to Elizabeth Kubany, public relations director at SOM.

"The suit that Thomas Shine filed against SOM for copyright infringement is specious," Kubany said in a prepared statement. "While Mr. Shine's building and Freedom Tower share some common design elements, most of these elements have been industry standards for decades.

"The diagrid structural system, for example, was first used by SOM in Chicago's John Hancock Center in 1970 and has been widely used since."

"This is a high-profile project and a number of people have made claims that they were the inventor of specific elements of Freedom Tower's design," she said.

"However, SOM and its team of engineers have combined these elements in a unique way that reflects the special nature of the building's site and its importance. "

Shine's Olympic design featured a twisting tower with a twisting structural grid and a textured facade, according to the lawsuit.