This exploratory study provides an overview of circular economy related intellectual property (CEIP) challenges that actors in circular economy innovation ecosystems (CEIEs) face. Therefore, findings from a literature review are combined with empirical evidence from semi-structured interviews with different actors in CEIEs, including original equipment manufacturers as well as end-of-life solution providers of different company sizes and manufacturing industries. The key contributions of this paper to the literature are: (i) a preliminary framework to study IP challenges in CEIEs, (ii) the CEIP challenges framework which extends findings from the literature by categorising CEIP challenges mentioned in the conducted interviews and (iii) a visual representation of CEIP challenges in the aerospace industry.