Is there any way one can have their own intellectual property licensed to their own company, such that the person owns that IP and not the company?
A concrete example: I thought of a good premise for a book. I write a that book (let's call it thunderbolt) and I copyright it. I now officially own the copyright and intellectual property for my work, no?
Now I open up my own company which will be creating content based on my thunderbolt intellectual property. But I do not transfer the IP to my company, instead I license my IP to my company for each and every project individually. So let's say I license the rights to thunderbolt the movie and thunderbolt the game to my company. The licenses only allows my company to create one specific thing based on my IP, and can only do so for a limited time (like 4 years) and without the possibility of an update or expansion (in case of a the game).
Now another company wants to buy my own company. If I agree to the sale, the new company will ONLY own the licenses that I gave to my company, and NOT my IP correct?
Or another scenario: my company is going bankrupt and because of that all the assets (including the licenses) have to be liquidated. Does this, in any way, affect the IP that I personally hold? Can I be forced to cede the rights to my intellectual property?
This question is relevant because in the gaming industry it happens very often that some people make a really good game, then they fail for awhile and go bankrupt, and then suddenly another company with no regards to quality gets their hands on that intellectual property and starts ruining it.