Intangible good
Goods without physical nature
An intangible good is something that provides utility which does not have a physical nature, as opposed to a physical good (an object). Intangible goods do not have a physical presence, but "ownership rights exist for them (established with patents and copyrights), they can be stored, and their ownership transferred."
Digital goods such as downloadable music, mobile apps or virtual goods used in virtual economies are proposed to be examples of intangible goods. Other examples of intangible goods include "scientific inventions, and "originals" such as the words in a book manuscript or the images stored on a film master." Another example of a category of intangible goods is intellectual property.
In contrast, tangible goods have a physical presence. Examples include newspapers, music CDs, and movie DVDs. These are the "physical expression of intangible goods that can be copyrighted."
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Intangible good”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
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