Intellectual Property Assignment Agreement

An Intellectual Property Assignment Agreement is a document that ensures the transfer of intellectual property rights in a work of intellectual property (such as an invention, design, pattern, trademark, trade name, logo, trade secret, or any other original creation) from the originator or owner of the work to another party. The party who owns the intellectual property and is assigning their rights in the property is the Assignor, while the party receiving the intellectual property rights is the Assignee.

Intellectual property is a creative invention protected by law. It is an intangible property that gives the originator the sole and exclusive rights to the property except it is licensed or assigned. In other words, intellectual property, just like any other property, can be licensed, sold, or assigned to another party for valuable consideration.

The owner of a work of intellectual property has the exclusive rights to license or sell their intellectual property rights except in the context of employment, where an employee or independent contractor creates the intellectual property in the process of performing their duties for their employer/client. In this case, the employer/client can legally secure all the intellectual property created.

This document can be used for the transfer of intellectual property rights in the following ways:

• An employee or independent contractor/service provider can assign their intellectual property rights in any work created for their employer during their employment;

• Founders of a business entity can transfer intellectual property rights in any original work or invention formulated for the business entity;

• A third party can transfer intellectual property rights in any work created or invented to another party in exchange for compensation (such as money or property). For example, a movie streaming platform and production company like Netflix can acquire all the copyrights in a movie in exchange for money. This means that the company has the rights to display and reproduce the work and also retains proceeds obtained from the display of the film.

How to use this document

After completing this document, the parties (the assignor and assignee) should review the form to ensure the accuracy of its contents.

After this, the parties should sign at least two copies of the document. If either of the parties is a Nigerian company, either two directors or one director and one secretary should sign the document. The common seal of the company may also be affixed to the document. If either of the parties is any other organization other than a company, an officer of that organization should sign the document and have a witness attest to the signature.

Each party should keep a signed copy of this document for their record.

Applicable laws

The Trade Marks Act Cap T13, LFN 2004 and the Trade Marks Regulations,1990 are applicable to trademarks in Nigeria. The Nigerian Copyrights Act, Cap 28 LFN, 2004 are applicable to copyrights in Nigeria. Patents and Designs Act, Cap P2 LFN, 2004 is applicable to registered patents in Nigeria.

The rules of contract also apply to this document.

How to modify the template

You fill out a form. The document is created before your eyes as you respond to the questions.

At the end, you receive it in Word and PDF formats. You can modify it and reuse it.