What happens to the IP when the company is shut down?

Question

A startup I know was recently closed down by its investors. What happens to the technology that the startup had developed in this situation? I presume from context that the developers can't just take the code (and art, data, etc) and keep working on it themselves, but what generally is done with it in these cases? Would the startup (theoretically; if they want it) keep a copy of everything developed, with the potential option of selling it or starting a new company to resume work on it? Is it just summarily deleted?

Also, what would prevent the developers from just stating over, based on what they remember of the code, aside from lack of time and money?

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Answers: 3 public & 0 private

Steven weinrieb
Patent Attorney

Contingencies such as you have outlined are normally addressed when the company is originally formed. IP is property, it is assets, and therefore obviously has value.
If, for example, the company was a corporation, such contingencies probably would have been addressed in the Articles of Incorporation. It would seem to me that somewhere along the line, the property, and its ownership and rights to it, would have been addressed.

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