Find Out What IP Your Business Owns

An IP ownership audit is a structured review of the intellectual property a business uses, who created it and what evidence supports ownership or permission. It covers registered and unregistered rights, contracts and practical records. The output is an asset map and action list, not a declaration that every ownership question has been conclusively resolved.

A small business should review the assets that distinguish it, generate revenue or keep operations running. These may include brands, website content, photographs, software, product designs, inventions, databases and confidential know-how. The audit should also capture registrations, licences, assignments and creator agreements so each asset can be connected to its supporting evidence.

Usually, for copyright: work an employee creates in the course of their employment belongs to the employer unless agreed otherwise, and designs created in the course of employment generally follow the same principle. Employee inventions have their own statutory rules — broadly, the employer owns inventions made in the normal course of the employee's duties. The edges are where disputes happen: side projects, work outside the person's role, or work started before they joined. The audit records the role, the project and the contract wording.

Not automatically your company. Unlike employees, independent contractors generally keep the copyright and design rights in what they create; the commissioning business often receives only a licence, whose scope depends on the deal. Ownership moves when there is a written, signed assignment. If your developer, designer or agency has never signed one, the audit will flag that gap and the paperwork needed to close it.

IP created before the company existed starts life owned by whoever created it — usually a founder or a contractor — and it does not move to the company automatically on incorporation. It needs a written assignment (or at minimum a clear licence) from that person to the company. This is one of the most common gaps investors find in due diligence. The audit flags valuable assets the company uses but cannot yet support with documentation.

Useful evidence can include registrations, signed agreements, employment records, project files, dated drafts, invoices, licences and records showing how an asset was created or acquired. No single item resolves every situation. The audit links available evidence to each asset and highlights where the ownership story is incomplete, inconsistent or dependent on another party.

Yes. UK unregistered rights include copyright (which arises automatically in qualifying original work), unregistered design rights protecting the shape and configuration of products, database rights protecting substantial investment in databases, rights in confidential information and trade secrets, and the goodwill a business can protect through passing off. These can matter commercially even though there is no certificate. The audit distinguishes confirmed facts from rights that need further assessment.

Review your IP record whenever the business changes materially—for example, after launching a product, commissioning major creative work, hiring developers, entering a partnership or preparing for investment. A lighter recurring review can keep contracts and evidence connected to new assets. The appropriate frequency depends on how quickly the business creates, acquires or licenses intellectual property.

Common warning signs include valuable work created without clear contracts, assets held in a founder’s name, missing licence records, inconsistent creator details and important brands or products with no documented protection strategy. These signals do not prove that ownership is defective. They show where the business should gather evidence, update documents or seek independent help.