Compliance
Intellectual property
Also known as IP
Intellectual property is the set of intangible assets a business owns, including trademarks, copyright, patents and trade secrets. For software and creative businesses, IP is frequently the company's most valuable asset, and ownership depends on written assignment rather than payment.
In plain terms: The intangible things your company owns — code, brand, designs, know-how.
Why it matters
Paying someone to create something does not automatically make the company the owner. Without a written IP assignment, a contractor may retain rights to what they produced — the most common defect found during acquisition diligence.
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