You have written the first version of an app, bought a domain or paid a designer for a logo. Now you want to register an Irish company and sell the product through it. Does the new company automatically own those assets because you own the company?
No. Incorporation creates a separate legal entity; it does not automatically move a founder's existing rights into that entity. This guide helps prospective founders prepare an ownership and access handover for code, branding, content and domains. Official sources were checked on 24 October 2026. It is not an assignment template, IP clearance opinion or tax valuation.
Separate the founder, the new company and the asset
CRO explains that a company is separate from the people running it. If you created a product before the company existed, becoming its shareholder does not by itself establish that the company owns your earlier work. The same distinction matters where a sole trader starts using a new LTD for future sales.
Build an inventory around actual business dependencies. List the software, designs, photographs, written material, trading names, domain accounts and specialist know-how the venture needs. For each item, identify the creator, present owner, relevant contract and what the company must be allowed to do.
A list that says only 'website' hides several different issues. The company may need rights to the code, permission for fonts and images, a hosting contract, control of the domain and access to the payment account. One working password does not establish the legal position across all of them.
| Item | Question before launch |
|---|---|
| Code and product files | Who owns each contribution? |
| Logo and photographs | Assignment or limited licence? |
| Domain and hosting | Who is the account holder? |
| Third-party components | What terms govern reuse? |
Check whether you actually own the work you created
Section 23 starts from authorship but includes an important employment exception: work made by an employee in the course of employment belongs first to the employer, subject to an agreement to the contrary. Personal effort alone is not enough to answer the ownership question.
If you developed software while employed elsewhere, review the employment agreement, duties and circumstances before promising that the startup owns it. Do not copy an employer's customer material, code or confidential information into the new business. Ask a solicitor where work on your own project and employed work may overlap.
Prepare dated records showing who contributed what and under which arrangement. Do not manufacture a retrospective story about when the work was created. A clear chronology makes advice more useful and helps distinguish your own material from assets you are not entitled to transfer.
A contractor's invoice is not the same as an assignment
An independent developer, illustrator or photographer is not automatically treated like your employee. Start with the contract and statutory ownership position. A brief saying 'build our website' and a paid invoice may leave the permitted use or ownership narrower than the business expects.
Ask what was actually supplied: a finished output, source files, a licence for one use, or an assignment of identified rights. Section 120 requires a copyright assignment to be in writing and signed by or on behalf of the assignor. Do not assume a folder labelled 'final' replaces that document.
Where an agency used subcontractors, ask how the rights reached the agency and what it can grant to the company. Keep this proportionate: you are establishing a traceable route to the rights needed, not demanding unnecessary personal information about every contributor. Have gaps resolved before customer or investor promises depend on them.
Choose ownership or permission deliberately
An assignment transfers identified rights; a licence gives permission to use rights on agreed terms. IPOI describes licensing as a way for an owner and another business to commercialise IP. Either approach can be commercially sensible, but they answer different questions.
A founder might transfer a product to the company, or retain an asset and license defined uses. The latter needs careful thought about duration, exclusivity, territory, modification, sublicensing, payment, termination and what happens if the founder leaves. A company relying on a revocable informal permission may face a very different business risk from one with secure agreed rights.
Tell the solicitor how the company will operate, not simply that you want 'all IP'. Does it need to change the product, appoint distributors, supply customer-specific versions or sell the business later? The documents should support those intended uses and respect rights that the founder cannot transfer.
Keep company names, trade marks and domains distinct
A CRO company name identifies the legal entity. A trade mark concerns protection of a sign for relevant goods or services. A domain is also governed by its registration and provider arrangements. Completing one process does not establish that all three issues are resolved.
Before spending heavily on branding, review the proposed name and sign with appropriate searches and advice. IPOI's trade mark guidance is separate from CRO incorporation. Do not describe a successful company-name check as a trade mark clearance or promise that no other business can object.
For domains, identify the registrant, renewal arrangements and administrator access, then ask the provider about the correct handover to the company where required. Keep recovery details under reliable business control. Moving an account does not automatically assign copyright in a logo or clear third-party rights in the name.
Review third-party material before calling the product wholly yours
An original product can contain licensed components. List stock images, fonts, commercial plugins, libraries, datasets and other material supplied by someone else. Preserve the relevant licence version and identify the product or account to which it relates.
Check whether the terms permit the company's intended use, changes, distribution and customer access. A licence obtained personally or for a different business should not be assumed to cover the new company. Conversely, do not assume that every third-party component must be replaced or bought outright; the question is whether the applicable permissions work for the actual use.
Keep a simple register of external dependencies and any notices or restrictions the team must preserve. Tell developers and designers where this record lives. That is more useful than a blanket statement that the founder 'owns everything' when the delivered product includes materials governed by separate terms.
Use a worked handover example to expose gaps
Consider a fictional founder who wrote the core application personally, paid a freelancer for a logo and registered the domain in a personal account. The new LTD is intended to sign customer contracts. There are at least three separate handover questions, not one website transfer.
For the application, the solicitor checks the founder's ownership and prepares the agreed assignment or licence. For the logo, the founder produces the design contract and any signed rights document, asking the creator to resolve a missing grant where necessary. For the domain, the founder checks the registrant and provider process and gives the company suitable operational control.
The founder also lists licensed libraries and hosting terms instead of pretending those rights were created personally. None of this example determines the tax treatment, valuation or enforceability of a particular arrangement. Its purpose is to turn a vague assurance into a verifiable set of actions before launch.
Keep the rights documents, access handover and accounting aligned
Once the company exists, complete the advised documents in the correct names and on the correct dates. Record the assets and rights covered, consideration or licence payments, necessary consents and who has authority to sign for each party. Do not sign on behalf of a company before it exists as if it were already a contracting person.
Discuss valuation and tax with the accountant before choosing a nominal price or issuing shares for an asset. Revenue's disposal guidance includes sales, gifts and exchanges; moving an asset into your own company should not be assumed tax-free just because you remain the shareholder.
After the legal step, complete the operational handover: repositories, domain administration, source assets, backups, renewals and recovery contacts. Store signed documents securely and give the team access appropriate to their roles. Avoid putting credentials or confidential source material in public formation filings.
Prepare a founder IP brief before ordering formation
A concise brief should explain what has already been made, by whom, under which contracts and how the new company will use it. Mark unresolved ownership, licences or former-employer questions clearly. It is better to ask for advice than to make an unsupported declaration to a customer, lender or investor.
StartCompany.ie's LTD formation packages cover the listed incorporation work, not automatic transfer of a founder's intellectual property. Bespoke assignments, licences, trade mark applications, clearance searches, valuation and tax advice are not included unless expressly agreed. Choose the package from its current scope and total payable.
Plan the specialist work alongside incorporation so the company can launch with the rights and access it needs. The formation team needs an accurate structure and agreed share instructions, not a password dump or an assumption that the CRO certificate transfers every business asset.
- Inventory core assets and third-party dependencies.
- Identify creators, owners and relevant employment or contractor terms.
- Agree assignment, licensing or another advised route.
- Resolve missing rights before promising ownership to customers.
- Complete documents using the correct parties and dates.
- Handover access, renewals and backups, and retain the supporting record.
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Irish Company Formation Packages
Official information and next steps
Official sources checked on 24 October 2026. This is a preparation checklist, not a clearance opinion, rights-transfer document or advice on the tax treatment of an IP transaction.
- CRO: a company is a separate legal entity
- Copyright Act: Section 23, first ownership and employment
- Copyright Act: Section 120, assignments and licences
- IPOI: copyright in creative works and software
- IPOI: commercialising IP through licensing
- IPOI: trade marks explained
- Revenue: transfers, gifts and disposals of assets