Documents for Business
In excess of 1,000 customisable documents covering every conceivable business issue.Introduction to this document
Assignment of intellectual property (IP)
Different IP rights often subsist in a single work. For example, a list of personal data may be protected by copyright and database rights simultaneously, and a logo may be protected as both a trade mark and a copyright work. It is good practice to draft an assignment of IP rights relating to a particular work as widely as possible in order to ensure that all conceivable rights are included. The assignment is drafted on this basis.
What is an IP assignment?
An IP assignment is a permanent transfer of ownership of an intellectual property right, such as a patent, trade mark or copyright, from one party (the assignor) to another party (the assignee). Consequently, the assignee becomes the new owner of the intellectual property right.
When might you use an assignment?
Either when you’re looking to sell valuable IP rights or, where, for example, you don’t own them and need to acquire them. For example, if you engage a web designer to redesign your website, they will own the IP rights in it, not you. You should therefore consider getting any IP rights assigned to you. Make sure the definition of IP rights has been drafted as widely as possible in order to cover all possible rights subsisting in the work, as well as any identifiable registered rights.
