Subject One of the main reasons for low efficiency of R&D and unsatisfactory level of commercialization of intellectual activity results in the Russian Federation is the lack of proper regulation of rights of government agencies to intellectual property items protected by law, which are created under the State budget financing. The article considers foreign practices in this sphere. Objectives The aim is to analyze the aspects of foreign legislation relating to regulation of rights to IP assets created by government agencies and paid from the State budget. Methods Using the comparative analysis method, we review the specifics of regulation of government agencies' rights to intellectual property created using the funds of national (federal) budgets in a number of developed countries. Results The analysis shows the key features of the regulation, namely, formalization of rights of government agencies to the results of intellectual activity, and incorporation of procedures for distribution of income generated by application of IP assets among the stakeholders. Conclusions The findings enable to determine the areas of perfecting the Russian legislation on intellectual property to the extent of formalizing the rights to IP assets created by various government agencies within public contract performance.