Intellectual property means creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; trade secrets; symbols, names and images. An intellectual property assignment agreement transfers the title or ownership of intellectual property rights in a work. The effect of such transfer is that the person to whom it is transferred (assignee) has exclusive rights over the IP and can exploit or assign the same while the IP cannot be used by the assignor (the person assigning the rights).

Also called an IP transfer agreement, it is created to ensure that when an employee helps develop a creation on behalf of a company, the company can retain the rights to the creation. The creation includes prototypes, software development, design and identity etc.

An IP Transfer or Assignment agreement is an especially important document to have with your developers because under the IP laws of most countries, the person who works on or creates a thing owns the IP rights of that creation. So to ensure that ownership of the IP rights of projects worked on by the developer belongs to the company, there must be an agreement transferring or assigning the intellectual property rights to the company. This remains true whether the developer in question is an employee or an independent contractor of the company.

For example, if you hire a software developer to build your website or app, they must sign an IP transfer agreement with your company or else all the work done by the developer will be regarded as their intellectual property under the law of most countries.