Churches, charities and intellectual property

Many churches and Christian charities do not realise that they may own a valuable asset in the form of intellectual property, and that they may not be free simply to give that away. This paper considers what intellectual property is, the biblical principles that may apply, who owns intellectual property, and the impact on churches and their trustees.

Topics included:

• What is intellectual property?
• Who owns the intellectual property?
• What are the biblical principles that may be applied?
• Why does it matter who owns the intellectual property?
• Intellectual property created by church employees;
• Intellectual property created by church volunteers;
• Intellectual property created by a third party;
• What if the church owns the intellectual property?
• Infringing other people's intellectual property.