Certificate Status: Active, Suspended and Closed

Every ACAN certificate has a status that anyone relying on the record can see. It tells them whether the record is complete and current, or whether something needs attention. There are three.

Active

The required reports have been presented, reviewed and recorded, and monitoring has found nothing that needs resolving. Active means the record is complete and current. It does not mean ACAN vouches for the asset's authenticity or value, which remain judgments for the people relying on the record.

Suspended

A certificate is suspended when an event means the record may no longer describe the asset accurately. Typical causes:

• a lien, claim or conflicting assignment that was not on the record
• lapsed insurance, or unpaid property tax
• damage or loss, or an object that cannot be matched to its fingerprint
• an overdue custody check or inspection
• an asset moved or released without notice, such as wine leaving the warehouse
• a missed patent fee, a challenge to a patent or trademark, or a royalty statement that does not reconcile

While a certificate is suspended, the suspension and its cause are shown on the record, and payments that rely on ACAN's attestations, such as distributions of rent or royalties by the issuer, pause. For a music catalog, only the affected works are suspended, and income from the rest keeps flowing.

Back to active

The owner resolves the cause: renews the insurance, clears the lien, completes the inspection or reconciles the statement. The evidence is recorded, and the certificate returns to active. Both the suspension and the fix stay in the record's history.

Closed

A certificate closes when the asset leaves the system: it is sold, released to the owner, the patent expires or the interests are redeemed. A final event is recorded and the history is kept, so the record of what happened remains available.

Why suspension exists

A record that kept showing an asset as active after its insurance lapsed, or after an unknown lien appeared, would be worse than no record at all. Suspension makes problems visible to everyone relying on the record at the moment they arise, rather than after the fact. See keeping a record current for what is monitored.