Teranet~ Surveyors Class Action Suit Regarding Copyright

I did not read all that... but I have a question: Isn't the recording process in Canada to affix a specific stamp to each plan you record, then you receive some income every time someone makes a copy of that plan?

Thadd-

In Ontario, a plan is registered or deposited and given a specific number by the Provincial body known as the Land Registry Office.

The physical plan, now numbered, being the registered/deposited copy is thus in the possession of the Crown.

The "Original Plan", without a number, is still in the possession of the creating surveyor and unless s/he has specifically conveyed the copyright to any other party, the intellectual property vests in the creating surveyor.

The Crown will put the registered/deposited number on a duplicate for the surveyor's use in making copies, but the Crown treats the copies of its plan as superior to any other.

There is a phrase in a Regulation in Ontario that rightfully enables the surveyor to protect the public from Plan Fraud:

(3) A print of a plan of survey is not a valid copy unless it bears the embossed seal of the licensed member who signed the plan or the embossed seal of a licensed member employed by the corporation or public agency responsible for the plan's preparation or the corporate seal of the corporation holding a certificate of authorization that was responsible for the plan's preparation. R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 1026, s. 29 (3).

The Land Registry Office is supposed to have an embossing seal, but does not allow a "Valid Copy With Embossed Seal Only" note on the plan to protect the public !

It is because the Crown entered into a licensing arrangement with a formerly private, now quasi governmental organization, Teranet, to sell copies of surveyor's plans at an apparent amount above cost, that has fostered the suit as occurred in Australia (NSW) that is still going on after the High Court ruled in the surveyors' favour being that the Crown owes a license fee to the surveyor.

See Pat McNamara's piece:

http://www.fig.net/pub/fig2010/papers/ts06j%5Cts06j_mcnamara_4743.pdf

Cheers,

Derek

Derek,

I wish we had the protections you have.

Half our plans cannot have a circle C on them as the Land Court will not accept them. The other half leave a bit of room for speculation on how much the little C will actually protect.

Good luck with all that,
Thadd

Thanks for the info Derek!

I wonder why there aren't any cases like this in the States.

where is the big firm that will step to the plate? i'll sign on, but we're a little fish.

it's been 4 years since i convinced the town i do most of my work in that their acceptance of a plot plan with a proposed structure sketched on it after the fact was not proper procedure. the stamp only applies to the original plan, not what some builder sketched in to get a permit.

what should i do about the old engineer in the next town over who takes any topo that I perform and digitizes it for his design? we show 80-90% of our spot shots on our topo plans and it's amazing to find one of his plans where they hit spot elevations at exactly the same locations...