Copyright In Survey Plans

As a follow-up to our earlier post about  Copyright in House Plans, an class action case is proceeding in Ontario on the subject of ownership of copyright in survey plans (See:  Ontario land surveyors can sue land registry managers for copyright infringement, court says).

In the course of their work, land surveyors in Ontario prepare a survey document, and that document is routinely scanned into the province's land registry database. Copies of survey documents can be ordered from the registry for a fee. The Ontario Court of Appeal has certified a class action which permits the province's land surveyors to continue their copyright lawsuit against Teranet Inc., the manager of the land registry system. The case is Keatley Surveying Ltd. v. Teranet (Case No. cv-10-414169).