Do I need a written agreement to make sure I own IP created by a freelance contractor?

Yes. Under the Copyright Act, a freelance contractor who creates work for your business — a logo, website, software, photography, written content — generally keeps ownership of the copyright in what they create unless a written agreement assigns it to you, even if you paid the full invoice. Without that written assignment, your business may end up with only an implied licence to use the work for the purpose you originally hired the contractor for, which can become a real problem if you later want to modify the work, rebrand, license it out, or sell the business.

A proper agreement should expressly state that the contractor assigns all intellectual property rights in the deliverables to your business upon creation or payment, and ideally also addresses moral rights, since a creator's moral rights do not automatically transfer with a copyright assignment and need a separate waiver. This matters most for anything foundational to the business, like core software or brand assets. If you are relying on older contractor relationships without this kind of agreement, it is worth having them reviewed before a financing round, sale, or licensing deal brings the gap to light.