This study set out to investigate the use of formal protection mechanisms (formal contracts and IPRs) in interorganisational R&D collaboration with various types of partners within and across national borders. Considering the scarcity of studies that analyse both IPRs and formal contracts in the context of open innovation with different partner types located both nationally and abroad, our study contributes with new evidence about the actual formal mechanisms that are used in R&D endeavours with external partners. Our results suggest that firms mainly engaged in R&D collaboration with local firms mainly rely on contracts and agreements as formal protection mechanisms, while companies with mostly international R&D partners seem to enable knowledge exchange in the context of open innovation by means of IPRs.