Intellectual Property Security Agreement for Recording with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and the United States Copyright Office

Uniform Commercial Code §9-102 includes intellectual property within the definition of "general intangibles." Generally a lender's security in general intangibles is perfected by the filing of a UCC-1 financing statement in the state where the borrower's principal place of business is located. It should be noted, however, that UCC §9-311 provides an exception when the intellectual property rights are governed by federal statutes, regulations, or treaties, federal procedures take precedence. Thus, patents, federally protected trademarks and copyrights are ultimately governed by these federal laws and regulations.

Perfecting security interests in patents, trademarks, copyrights, and domain names all have different requirements and to complicate matters, there are inconsistencies in court rulings and regular changes in the applicable law. To be safe, it may be preferable for the owner and secured party to make sure the security interest in the intellectual property right is perfected by the filing of a UCC-1 financing statement in the state where the borrower's principal place of business is located as well as taking the necessary steps to perfect the security interest in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and/or the United States Copyright Office, whichever is applicable.