On Thursday September 26, 2019, the Supreme Court of Canada
issued its highly anticipated decision in Keatley Surveying Ltd
v Teranet Inc (2019 SCC 43), finding that the
Province of Ontario holds copyright in plans of survey (Plans)
published by Teranet, the third party operator of the
Province's electronic land registry system (ELRS). This was the
first opportunity for the Supreme Court of Canada to examine the
scope and application of Crown copyright in the nearly 100 years
since the enactment of the applicable provision under section 12 of
the Copyright Act. The key issue on appeal involved the
interpretation of section 12, which sets out, amongst other things,
when the copyright in publications will vest in the Crown. The four
judge majority (authored by Abella J., with Moldaver, Karakatsanis
and Martin JJ. concurring) found that there was sufficient indicia
of control by the Crown over the publication process, including
controls over both the publisher and the
