How does a lender perfect a security interest in a corporation's intellectual property?

Intellectual property such as patents, trademarks, and copyrights is generally treated as intangible personal property, and a lender taking a security interest in a corporation's intellectual property generally perfects it the same way as other intangibles under Ontario's Personal Property Security Act — by registering a financing statement describing the intellectual property as collateral. This is typically done as part of, or alongside, a broader general security agreement covering the corporation's assets more generally.

Because federal intellectual-property registries, such as the one maintained by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, also allow certain notices or interests to be recorded against specific registered rights like a patent or trademark, lenders financing a corporation with valuable IP assets sometimes take the additional, more cautious step of recording their interest there as well, on top of the PPSA registration, to reduce the risk of a gap between the two systems. Because the interaction between provincial PPSA registration and federal IP registries can be technical and isn't always straightforward, this is an area where getting specific legal advice matters, particularly for a corporation whose intellectual property is a significant part of its value.