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Intangible property, also known asincorporeal property, is something that aperson orcorporation can haveownership of and can transfer ownership to another person orcorporation, but has nophysical substance, for examplebrand identity or knowledge/intellectual property.
Intangible property generally refers to statutory creations, such ascopyright,trademarks, orpatents. It excludes tangible property likereal property (land, buildings, andfixtures) andpersonal property (ships, automobiles, tools, etc.). In somejurisdictions, intangible property are referred to aschoses in action. Intangible property is used in distinction totangible property. It is useful to note that there are two forms of intangible property: legal intangible property (which is discussed here) and competitive intangible property (which is the source from which legal intangible property is created but cannot be owned, extinguished, or transferred). Competitive intangible property disobeys the intellectual property test of voluntaryextinguishment and therefore results in the sources that create intellectual property (knowledge in its source form, collaboration, process-engagement, etc.) escaping quantification.
Generally, ownership of intangible property gives the owner a set of legally enforceable rights over reproduction of personal property containing certain content.[1] For example, a copyright owner can control the reproduction of the work forming the copyright. However, the intangible property forms a set of rights separate from the tangible property that carries the rights. For example, the owner of a copyright can control the printing of books containing the content, but the book itself is personal property which can be bought and sold without concern over the rights of the copyright holder.
InEnglish law and otherCommonwealth legal systems, intangible property is traditionally divided inpure intangibles (such as debts, intellectual property rights andgoodwill) anddocumentary intangibles, which obtain their character through the medium of a document (such as abill of lading,promissory note orbill of exchange). The recent rise ofelectronic documents has blurred the distinction between pure intangibles and documentary intangibles.
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