What happens to a copyright if the company that owns it goes bankrupt or is now defunct?

Answer 1

In the case of a company bankruptcy, the judge will either order the intellectual property sold like any other tangible asset or will assign it to one of the debtor parties.

The recent closing of Circuit City offers a case-in-point. Although the online shop and all the brick and mortar stores were closed the trademarked name, domain name, and other intellectual property was purchased by SystemMax (Tiger Direct) for 5.5 m (USD).

Answer 2

A patent is treated as an item of property just like any other. So when a company goes bankrupt, it is up to the receivers/liquidators to sell off all assets, like buildings, cars, patents; belonging to the bankrupt company. If the patent is not sold in this way then it defaults to the state (in the UK at least). In most countries annual renewal fees are payable for patents (although they are less frequent in the US) so it's important to maintain these otherwise the patent will expire and be of no value.

Answer 3

Intellectual property can be transferred in the same way as real property, and should be addressed in bankruptcy proceedings.

Unfortunately, more often the copyrights are simply forgotten, creating "orphan works," for which there is no provision in the law.