Intellectual property rights include various classes of rights protected by legislation including copyright, patents, registered designs and trademarks, together with confidential information and trade secrets protected under common law or by contract. Provisions should be included in the contract to deal with the ownership and rights to use intellectual property rights created within the scope of the contract and outside the contract.

Intellectual property rights can give rise to complex issues and legal advice should be sought where necessary. Some contracts include a provision requiring the contractor to arrange for a deed to be executed between the acquiring entity, the contractor and certain employees and/or certain approved subcontractors to ensure intellectual property rights ownership and licensing rights. This may be necessary where people have access to particularly sensitive information and where they are developing critical intellectual property rights under the contract. Those involved in contract management should have an understanding of the nature of the intellectual property rights that the acquiring entity may hold or will receive under the contract.

Moral rights are created by the Copyright Act 1968, and protect the authors of literary, cinematic and creative works by granting enforceable rights of attribution and integrity of authorship. Attribution means that the author is entitled to be acknowledged as the creator of the work. Integrity means that the author is entitled to protect their work from derogatory treatment that is, damage, destruction, distortion or anything that may compromise the reputation of the creator. Moral rights exist in addition to any other intellectual property rights. Accordingly it is prudent to seek a warranty from the contractor that they have obtained valid written consents from all authors (including subcontractors) involved in creating contract material so that the entity's use of the material will not infringe on the authors' moral rights.

Provisions should be included in the contract to deal with the ownership and rights to use intellectual property rights.