Devoted to Corporate Attorneys, Corporate Lawyers, and Corporate Counsel

The following is not meant to be legal advice. 

Some companies with domestic and foreign offices usually set up the foreign offices to take advantage of favorable tax treatments.  Sometimes a company would set up an Ireland subsidiary for development agreements because all development that is done by an Ireland entity may have more favorable treatment.  The company may separate development from sales and marketing functions for finance reasons.

Knowing what each company entity does is important for intellectual property ownership purposes.  For instance, if a foreign entity is meant for research and development, that entity might be the owner of all trademarks.  This may be important when deciding whether to indemnify for infringement claims in license agreements.