Intangible good

Quality 0.50 · 1 view · Updated 2 months ago

Goods without physical nature

title: "Intangible good" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["goods-(economics)"] description: "Goods without physical nature" topic_path: "economics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intangible_good" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Goods without physical nature ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Fediverse_smartphone_apps_(photo_by_Elena_Rossini).jpg" caption="The downloadable [[mobile app]]s shown on this [[smartphone]] screen are intangible goods because they have no physical presence."] ::

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."{{cite web |author= |date= |title= North American Product Classification System (NAPCS) Canada [Provisional Version 0.1] – Introduction |url=https://www.statcan.gc.ca/en/subjects/standard/napcs/provisional_introduction |website=https://www.statcan.gc.ca |location= |publisher= Statistics Canada|access-date=20 January 2026}}

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." {{cite web |author= |date= |title= North American Product Classification System (NAPCS) Canada [Provisional Version 0.1] – Introduction |url=https://www.statcan.gc.ca/en/subjects/standard/napcs/provisional_introduction |website=https://www.statcan.gc.ca |location= |publisher= Statistics Canada|access-date=20 January 2026}} Another example of a category of intangible goods is intellectual property.{{cite web |author= |date= |title= North American Product Classification System (NAPCS) Canada [Provisional Version 0.1] – Introduction |url=https://www.statcan.gc.ca/en/subjects/standard/napcs/provisional_introduction |website=https://www.statcan.gc.ca |location= |publisher= Statistics Canada|access-date=20 January 2026}}

In contrast, tangible goods have a physical presence. Examples include "newspapers, music CD's, and movie DVD's." These are the "physical expression of intangible goods that can be copyrighted." |url=https://www.statcan.gc.ca/en/subjects/standard/napcs/provisional_introduction |website=https://www.statcan.gc.ca |location= |publisher= Statistics Canada|access-date=20 January 2026}}

References

References

  1. "What are intangible goods?".
  2. "Intangible product".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

goods-(economics)