You lend money to a technology company so that it can research,
develop and market a new software package. As security for your
loan, you take a security interest in that company's
intellectual property and accounts receivable. The company runs
into trouble. You conclude, reluctantly, that recovering your
investment will require enforcement of that security interest.
This enforcement will require that the security interest was
registered properly. The path to proper registration in Ontario
will be clearer starting the last day of this month, and even
clearer yet if and when other provinces and territories change
their related laws.
Ontario's new regime for registering a security interest in
certain personal property flows from a statute to modernize a
variety of provincial rules that was given Royal Assent nine years
ago. Some of those rules, including changes to the Personal
Property Securities Act (PPSA), are only coming into force now.
