What is an intellectual property receiver, and what can the role control?

Intellectual property receiver: a definition

An intellectual property receiver is a neutral fiduciary appointed by a court to take control of a party's intellectual property and related assets, preserve them and, in many cases, sell or license them under the court's supervision. The assets can include patents, trademarks, copyrights, domain names, software code and data.

Courts appoint IP receivers in several settings: to help a judgment creditor collect from a debtor whose main value is intangible, to protect a secured lender's collateral, or to stop assets losing value during a dispute. Receivership is one of the alternatives to bankruptcy, alongside assignments for the benefit of creditors and compositions, as this commercial law textbook chapter explains. The appointment order, issued under the law of the jurisdiction, defines what the receiver controls and what it may do.

How an IP receivership works

The sequence varies by court and order, but most follow a similar path.

1. A judgment creditor, lender or other party asks the court to appoint a receiver over specified assets.
2. The court issues an appointment order naming the receiver, the assets covered and the receiver's powers, including any limits on selling or licensing.
3. The receiver takes control of registrar and hosting accounts, patent and trademark filings, code repositories and the admin credentials for business systems.
4. The receiver preserves value by paying renewal and maintenance fees, keeping domains and hosted services alive, and stopping deletions.
5. The receiver inventories and values the assets, often with outside appraisers or brokers.
6. The receiver markets the assets for sale or license and seeks court approval where the order requires it.
7. The receiver reports to the court, distributes proceeds as directed and is discharged.

Illustrative example

Illustrative: a fictional 140-employee logistics software company fails to pay a judgment. The court appoints an IP receiver over its trademarks, domain names, source code and business systems. The receiver sells the trademarks and domain, licenses the code to a former customer, and finds that the help desk, engineering tracker and project files hold eight years of connected operating history. With the court's approval, the receiver introduces those records for a separate data license and keeps the servers out of the hardware disposal until a decision is made.

IP receiver vs similar roles

In an assignment for the benefit of creditors, the company transfers its assets to an assignee who holds them in trust, liquidates them and distributes the proceeds, so the assignee rather than a court-appointed receiver makes the licensing call.

Data and records: what an IP receiver should check

Operational records often fall outside a narrow definition of intellectual property, so start with the order.

• Scope of the order. Does intellectual property, or the asset list, include business records, databases and the systems that hold them? If not, ask counsel whether to seek clarification before acting.
• Ownership. Documents and code employees create in their jobs are generally works made for hire owned by the employer, while material from contractors may belong to the contractor unless assigned in writing, as the Copyright Office's circular on works made for hire explains.
• Client and third-party data. Records that belong to the company's customers, or that it holds under confidentiality obligations, are not the receiver's to license without consent.
• Personal data. Customer and employee personal information is constrained by privacy policies and law, and usually needs to be removed or de-identified.
• Preservation. Hosted systems disappear when invoices go unpaid, so keep the accounts alive until exports and decisions are complete.

This is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Confirm with your own counsel before acting under any appointment order.

Why the role matters for referral partners

An IP receiver is often the only person who can say yes. When a company's officers have been displaced, the receiver becomes the authorized sponsor SourceX needs, and a short introduction can add an asset the receivership would otherwise leave unused. The company still has to clear the usual SourceX baseline: US-based, 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded), a multi-year operating history and rights in the records. Lenders' counsel, appraisers and liquidators who work alongside receivers are well placed to raise it; the liquidator referral playbook shows how.

Related terms

• IP licensees in bankruptcy under sections 363(f) and 365(n): what happens to existing licenses when IP is sold in a bankruptcy.
• Section 554 abandonment: what happens to records a bankruptcy trustee decides not to administer.
• Call recordings from a closed contact center: a record type where client rights usually control.
• Overlooked intangible assets in chapter 7: the trustee's version of the same asset review.

Next step

If you advise a receiver, run the company through the company fit checker before the next report to the court, then register as a partner to make the introduction. The receiver can also apply directly at sourcex.si/apply using your referral link.