Intellectual Property Holding Companies - Assignment and Licensing Fees

Intellectual property holding companies are commonly used in large multinational groups. An intellectual property holding company is established to hold all or most of the intellectual property of a company group. Existing intellectual property of the company group is assigned to the company by other group members with ongoing arrangements in place to ensure that future intellectual property is also held by the IP holding company.

Usually, the holding company is a passive entity that does not trade. Occasionally, the holding company is also the ultimate parent company of the corporate group. The IP holding company enters into one

or more written or unwritten licences with other companies in the group to allow them to use the intellectual property. These other group members then enter into contractual relationships with customers and other third parties in relation to the intellectual property.