IP ASSIGNMENT
ALSO CALLED: ASSIGNMENT OF RIGHTS · COPYRIGHT ASSIGNMENT
DEFINITION
An IP assignment is a contract that permanently transfers ownership of specified intellectual property rights from one party to another. Unlike a license, which grants permission to use a work while the creator keeps ownership, an assignment moves the ownership itself.
WHAT IT MEANS IN PRACTICE
In most legal systems an assignment must be in writing and signed to be valid for copyright, which is one of the few formalities copyright law still insists on. A handshake deal or an email saying 'sure, it's yours' generally will not hold up as a full assignment.
An assignment is the standard way European companies acquire ownership of freelance work, since work for hire in the US sense mostly does not exist there. The freelancer remains the original author, but the economic rights move to the buyer under the assignment.
Even a full assignment does not usually transfer moral rights in Europe, because those are treated as inseparable from the person who made the work. A French designer can assign every economic right in a logo and still object if the buyer credits someone else as the creator.
Scope matters enormously. An assignment can be broad, covering the entire copyright worldwide and forever, or narrow, covering only one specific use, and the two look similar on the page if you are not reading closely.
AN EXAMPLE
A startup pays a freelance illustrator, Owen, a flat fee for a logo, and the contract includes an IP assignment clause transferring all rights in the logo to the startup upon final payment. Because it is a proper assignment rather than a license, the startup can now register the logo as a trademark and modify it freely without going back to Owen.
WATCH OUT
People sign purchase orders or invoices that never actually contain assignment language, then assume payment alone transferred ownership; it does not, under either US or EU law.
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