Who Owns Survey Plans?

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has ruled that the copyright in deposited survey plans belongs not to the land surveyor who prepared the plan but to the Province: Keatley Surveying v. Teranet.1 How this might apply in British Columbia or other provinces is not certain, but the reasoning could likely be applied to conclude that, at the very least, there is an implied licence (if not actual ownership) permitting public reproduction of deposited survey plans.

History of the Dispute

In 2001, the Province of Ontario completed the conversion of its paper-based land registration system into an electronic land registry system ("ELRS"). The new ELRS permitted licenced users to access and copy real property records, including plans of survey, upon payment of a licence fee to the private company, Teranet, that manages the system on behalf of the Province.

In 2007, Keatley Surveying brought a class action suit against Teranet on behalf of approximately 350 land surveyors in the province. In 2015, the suit was certified on appeal.2 The surveyors claimed copyright to the plans of survey and alleged that by providing copies to licenced users, Teranet was in violation of that copyright. They...