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345 - Intellectual Property

Last updated on April 19, 2024

Records relating to the protection of and permission to use intellectual property.  Intellectual property refers to copyright, trade-marks, patents, and industrial designs.

Record types include correspondence, forms, applications, certificates of registration, and assignments of copyright and waivers of moral rights agreed to in service contract negotiations.

For contracts, see primary 1070.
For intellectual property licence agreements, see primary 146.
For the procurement and issue of special items, see primary 847.

non-OPR NOTE: Offices will retain non-OPR copies of records for: SO nil DE 

Primary-Secondary Records Series OPR
  A SA FD
345-00 Policy and procedures SO nil DE
345-01 General CY+2y nil DE
345-02 Copyright permission requests CY+2y nil DE
345-20 Industrial design registration files
SO = when registered by the federal government
10y = Industrial design registration lasts 10 years.
NOTE: Industrial designs protect the original shape, pattern, ornamentation or configuration of a finished manufactured article.  They must be registered to be protected.		 SO 10y DE
345-30 Trade-mark registration files
SO = when registered by the federal government
15y = Trade-mark registration lasts 15 years.
NOTE: Trade-marks are used to distinguish the goods and services of one person or entity from another.  They are used for slogans, names or titles of products, distinctive packages, and unique product shapes.		 SO 15y DE
345-35 Official mark registration files
SO = when registered by the federal government
2y = Official mark registration files are retained for two years because the information is permanently listed in the federal government’s trade-mark registry.
NOTE: Official marks, which are protected under the Trade-Marks Act [RSC 1985, c. T-13, c. 9(1)(n)(iii)], may be registered only by public authorities.  They last forever unless the authority withdraws them.		 SO+2y nil DE
345-40 Patent registration files
SO = when registered by the federal government
20y = Patents last 20 years.
NOTE: Patents are obtained only by registration.  They protect inventions (e.g., processes, equipment, and manufacturing techniques).		 SO 20y DE
345-50 Copyright files
SO = upon publication or if applicable, when copyright has been registered by the federal government
51y = Copyright for published works created or published by the Crown lasts for the remainder of the calendar year in which the work is published, plus 50 years after that.  If the record has never been published it is protected until publication plus 50 years.
NOTE: Copyright is automatic when an original literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic work is created.  The Province seldom registers it.  Therefore this secondary should be used for records that prove Crown copyright on works in which there might be a dispute over ownership.		 SO+1y 50y DE

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OPR – office of primary responsibility

A – active
SA – semi-active
FD – final disposition

CY – calendar year
nil – no retention period
SO – superseded or obsolete
y – year
DE – destruction

Resources

Learn how government records are managed:

Contact information

For general inquires, contact the Government Information Management (GIM) Branch at:

Office
250 387-3387
Email
GRS@gov.bc.ca