Copyright in surveyors' drawings

Colleagues-

In Ontario, professional surveyors have been 'mildly' concerned about the reproduction of surveyor's drawings/plans by parties that may manipulate them over the signature of the surveyor and/or for an apparent profit benefit by an organization called Teranet http://www.teranet.ca/

Teranet was started as a public sector/private sector consortium to effect a mapping of parcels of interest in real property in Ontario.

Why this parcelization was not effected by "the Crown" as the Land Registry System was generating an apparent "profit" of between $18 and $31 million in service fees ...................

This is not a unique concern as our colleagues in New South Wales, Australia won a case in Oz's highest Court (the High Court) that may be found here: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/HCA/2008/35.html

On Friday,November 12, 2010 there was a Statement of Claim filed in Ontario Superior Court that Wendell has graciously offered to post for all (as I'm not overbright in that area).

This matter of the improper use of an entities' intellectual property such as surveyor's plans, will wend its way through the court systems of Ontario. (and Canada if there are appeals).

There is an interesting obiter in a ruling by the Ontario Privacy Commissioner that follows well reasoned thought as to documents being put into a/the government system do not lose copyright to the government by the mere act of filing.

Under the law of copyright, compilations of information can be accorded copyright protection as so-called “literary works”. However, copyright does not exist in the absence of original work or effort. Unless the government alters, compiles or otherwise manipulates information to make something different from the raw data supplied to it by others, it cannot be said to have acquired any ownership interest in the information.

See: http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onipc/doc/1996/1996canlii7705/1996canlii7705.html

Perhaps this effort may also aid other members of our profession Worldwide to enforce copyright as well as the protection of the public from plan fraud by the use of an embossed seal on all drawings to indicate they are valid copies as was not the case in Zambri: http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2009/2009canlii65373/2009canlii65373.html

Thank you Wendell for posting the Statement of Claim Keatley Surveying Ltd. v Teranet Inc. that I have sent you.

Cheers,

Derek