Most entrepreneurs are familiar with the assignment and licensing of copyrights, patents, and trademarks. An assignment is an absolute transfer of the entire right, title, and interest to the intellectual property (IP) being assigned. A license does not transfer ownership of the underlying intellectual property – only the right to utilize the intellectual property under specified circumstances, generally for a fixed Read More

The potential Buyer of a business's or an individual’s intellectual property (IP) assets should conduct due diligence to ensure that the Seller does indeed own these IP assets outright and therefore has the legal right to transfer ownership of the IP assets to the Buyer. Otherwise, the Buyer could end up in a situation where its ownership rights are questionable, thereby making it extremely difficult to go after Read More

Did you know patents and copyrights can be transferred to heirs and trusts? The past month I received calls from two individuals – one had lost a husband in a tragic accident after only five year of marriage and has a three-month-old-child. The other was one of the sons of widowed parent who passed away after a long illness. Both decedents were inventors and had applied for and received patents. The first decedent Read More