Commercial IP
Commissioning and paying for work does not answer every ownership question.
Tooling, patents, designs, copyright, software, data, and know-how need separate treatment.
Define who may file, use, license, disclose, and enforce later improvements.
Return, deletion, tooling transfer, supplier transition, and post-termination use must be operational.
Send us the issue, the relevant rights, and any deadline. We will route it to the right practice lead within one business day.
Contact UsA product file may contain brand artwork, industrial design, mechanical drawings, firmware, source code, process parameters, test data, moulds, fixtures, supplier lists, and later improvements. Calling all of this 'the IP' hides different ownership rules and different transfer formalities.
Create a schedule that identifies background IP brought by each party, project IP to be created, physical assets, confidential information, and third-party materials. Link each item to the legal right, practical custodian, permitted use, and required handover format.
Chinese patent law provides default rules for service inventions, cooperative development, and commissioned inventions, but contracts can be decisive in many settings. Copyright defaults may differ by work type and relationship. The agreement should expressly allocate the right to apply, ownership after grant, copyright interests, and control of confidential know-how.
The named applicant must match the agreed structure. A promise to transfer later is weaker than filing correctly from the start, supported by signed assignments and inventor cooperation obligations where needed.
Define an improvement by reference to the product and background technology, then state who owns it, who may use it, whether licences are exclusive, which territories are covered, and who decides to file. Address joint work carefully; joint ownership can restrict licensing or enforcement and create deadlock.
Require prompt invention disclosure and prohibit the manufacturer, its employees, and subcontractors from filing the brand's names, designs, or technical solutions without authorization.
State who owns moulds and fixtures, where they may be stored, how they are marked, whether they can serve other customers, who maintains them, and how they will be released. Pair legal ownership with access, inventory records, inspection rights, and a practical retrieval process.
For software and connected products, specify repositories, credentials, build materials, data formats, security updates, documentation, and escrow or continuity arrangements. Ownership without the means to operate the product may have little value.
Termination provisions should cover final production, return or certified deletion, transfer to a replacement supplier, continued supply of spare parts, pending purchase orders, record retention, and cooperation in enforcement. Test the exit process while the relationship is healthy; unresolved dependencies become leverage during a dispute.
CNIPA: Patent Law of the People's Republic of China
CNIPA: Official Q&A on Patent Ownership
Supreme People's Court: Technology Contract Disputes Interpretation
This article is general information about Chinese IP practice, not legal advice for a specific matter. It was last reviewed on 2026-08-21. Rules, fees, and timelines change; confirm current requirements before acting. For advice on your situation, contact our team.