Company classification taxonomy and corporate intellectual property rights owners

This chapter reflects on how the historical development of the company law framework could be instructive for the recalibration of the accountability of corporate intellectual property rights (IPRs) owners within UK company law. In England in the 15th century, letters patents were awarded to individuals. Ownership by legal persons (corporate bodies) was never contemplated. The concept of a ‘company’ with a separate legal identity and limited liability did not even exist until centuries later with the enactment of the British Joint Stock Companies Act 1844, regarded as the first modern piece of company law. The interdisciplinary analysis in this chapter will focus on an important aspect of company law development, namely, the history and rationale for the company classification system (e.g. small, medium, large, private and public etc.) for regulatory purposes. Lessons learned from corporate law reform in terms of company classification by size, type and corporate group structures are studied to inform a new company classification taxonomy to apply to privileges IPR ownership in a corporate law context.