Copyright Acquisition Agreement

Summary

This template copyright acquisition agreement may be used to transfer ownership of copyrights from a seller to a buyer which are the subject of federal registrations or pending applications or which are unregistered. This template includes practical guidance, drafting notes, and optional clauses. This agreement assumes that the buyer has performed all necessary due diligence regarding the copyrights at issue and is intended for use as a standalone contract. It should not be used when acquiring copyrights as part of a larger asset purchase transaction involving all or substantially all of a company's assets, which would be the subject of a different and more extensive written agreement. Additionally, this template should not be recorded with the U.S. Copyright Office as it contains financial and other potentially sensitive information. Instead, a separate copyright assignment should be executed simultaneously with this agreement and filed by the buyer with the Copyright Office to record the transfer of ownership. For more information on conducting due diligence and the transfer of intellectual property (IP) assets, including copyrights, see the practice notes IP Due Diligence and IP Asset Acquisitions; see also IP Due Diligence Checklist, IP Due Diligence Request List, and IP Due Diligence Review Charts. For more information on copyright assignments, see Assignments of Copyrights and Copyright Assignment Checklist. For a standalone assignment that can be recorded with the U.S. Copyright Office, see Copyright Assignment.