Copyright assignment

Definition

The signed paper that moves a logo, a website or code to the buyer.

Why It Matters

A trademark assignment does not carry it, and a bill of sale carries only what the seller owned. Outside a transfer by operation of law, such as a merger, copyright moves only by a signed writing from its owner, usually the freelancer who built the site, drew the logo, or wrote the code the operation runs on. Two things make a real one: it names the works, by file, repository or address, and it is signed by whoever owns them, which means the agency where its own employee made them, and otherwise usually the person who did. A blanket line assigning all intellectual property binds the seller, who frequently never owned the copyright to give. Ask for it while the seller still needs your money, because a contractor with no further business from either side has no reason to sign afterward.

In numbers: On a $4M deal the website, the logo and the booking code came from one contractor paid $18,000, and a single signed assignment is what moves all three.