When a German speaking English says "we have an Intellectual Property office"

[goonIcantakeit]

Does he mean: we have a room in the building connected to intellectual property? (Seems unlikely in the context)

Or does he mean " we have a solicitor's firm specialising in Intellectual Property" (seems more likely from context).

Thanks in advance to all German business folk out there!

[goonIcantakeit]

that is very helpful, thank you.
It's a big company, so they may have an in-house IP team...

[AphraBane]

I'd interpret that as meaning a section or department of the company, perhaps with trained legal people, devoted to intellectual property matters - whether the office these people work in is in the building or located externally is irrelevant. But I wouldn't assume it means a separate company of solicitors they work with.