Editing Ownership (section)

==Types of property==

===Personal property===
{{Main|Personal property}}
'''Personal property''' is a type of [[property]]. In the [[common law]] systems personal property may also be called '''chattels'''. It is distinguished from [[real property]], or [[real estate]]. In the [[civil law (legal system)|civil law]] systems personal property is often called [[movable property]] or movables – any property that can be moved from one location or another. This term is used to distinguish property that different from [[immovable property]] or immovables, such as land and buildings. This also means the direct owner of the item(s) is in full control of them/it until either stolen, [[Confiscation|confiscated]] by [[law enforcement]], or destroyed.

Personal property may be classified in a variety of ways, such as [[Good (economics)|good]]s, [[money]], [[negotiable instrument]]s, [[security (finance)|securities]], and [[intangible asset]]s including [[Chose (English law)|choses in action]].

===Land ownership===
{{Main|Real estate}}
Real estate or [[immovable property]] is a [[law|legal]] term (in some jurisdictions) that encompasses land along with anything permanently affixed to the land, such as [[building]]s. Real estate (immovable property) is often considered synonymous with [[real property]], in contrast from [[personal property]] (also sometimes called ''chattel'' or ''personalty''). However, for technical purposes, some people prefer to distinguish real estate, referring to the land and fixtures themselves, from real property, referring to ownership rights over real estate. The terms ''real estate'' and ''real property'' are used primarily in [[common law]], while [[Civil law (legal system)|civil law]] [[jurisdiction]]s refer instead to [[immovable property]].

In law, the word ''real'' means relating to a thing (from [[Latin]] ''reālis,'' ultimately from ''rēs'', 'matter' or 'thing'), as distinguished from a person. Thus the law broadly distinguishes between ''real property'' (land and anything affixed to it) and ''personal property'' (everything else, e.g., clothing, furniture, money). The conceptual difference is between immovable property, which would transfer title along with the land, and movable property, which a person would retain title to.

With the development of private [[property]] ownership, real estate has become a major area of [[business]].

===Corporations and legal entities===
{{Main|Private property}}
An individual or group of individuals can own shares in corporations and other [[Legal Entity|legal entities]], but do not necessarily own the entities themselves. A legal entity is a [[legal]] construct through which the law allows a group of [[natural person]]s to act as if it were an [[individual]] for certain purposes.

Some duly incorporated entities may not be owned by individuals nor by other entities; they exist without being owned once they are created. Not being owned, they cannot be bought and sold. Mutual life insurance companies, [[credit union]]s, [[Foundation (non-profit)|foundation]]s and [[cooperative]]s, not for profit organizations, and public corporations are examples of this. No person can purchase the company, as their ownership is not legally available for sale, neither as shares nor as a single whole.

===Intellectual property===
{{Main|Intellectual property}}
Intellectual property (IP) refers to a legal entitlement which sometimes attaches to the [[idea-expression divide|expressed form]] of an [[idea]], or to some other [[intangible asset|intangible]] subject matter. This legal entitlement generally enables its holder to exercise [[exclusive right]]s of use in relation to the subject matter of the IP. The term intellectual property reflects the idea that this subject matter is the product of the [[mind]] or the intellect, and that IP rights may be protected at law in the same way as any other form of [[property (ownership right)|property]].

Intellectual property [[law]]s confer a [[bundle of rights|bundle]] of [[exclusive right]]s in relation to the particular form or manner in which ideas or information are expressed or manifested, and not in relation to the ideas or concepts themselves (see [[idea-expression divide]]). The term "intellectual property" denotes the specific legal rights which authors, inventors and other IP holders may hold and exercise, and not the intellectual work itself.

Intellectual property laws are designed to protect different forms of intangible subject matter, although in some cases there is a degree of overlap.

*[[Copyright]] may subsist in creative and artistic works (e.g. [[book]]s, [[movies]], [[music]], [[painting]]s, [[photograph]]s and [[software]]), giving a [[copyright holder]] the exclusive right to control reproduction or adaptation of such works for a certain period of time.
*A [[patent]] may be granted in relation to an [[invention]] that is new, useful and not simply an obvious advancement over what existed when the application was filed. A patent gives the holder an [[exclusive right]] to [[commercially]] exploit the invention for a certain period of time (typically 20 years from the filing date of a [[patent application]]).
*A [[trademark]] is a distinctive [[sign (semiotics)|sign]] which is used to distinguish the products or services of one [[business]] from those of another business.
*An [[industrial design right]] protects the form of appearance, style or design of an industrial object (e.g. [[spare part]]s, [[furniture]] or [[textile]]s).
*A [[trade secret]] (also known as "[[confidential information]]") is an item of confidential information concerning the commercial practices or [[Property|proprietary]] knowledge of a business.

Patents, trademarks and designs fall into a particular subset of intellectual property known as [[industrial property]].

Like other forms of property, intellectual property (or rather the exclusive rights which subsist in the IP) can be transferred ([[consideration|with]] or [[gift|without]] consideration) or [[license]]d to third parties. In some [[jurisdiction]]s it is possible to use intellectual property as [[Collateral (finance)|collateral]] for a [[loan]].

The basic [[Public policy (law)|public policy]] rationale for the protection of intellectual property is that IP laws facilitate and encourage disclosure of [[innovation]] into the [[public domain]] for the [[common good]], by granting [[author]]s and [[Inventor (patent)|inventors]] exclusive rights to exploit their works and invention for a limited period.

However, various schools of thought are critical of the very concept of intellectual property, and some characterise IP as ''[[intellectual protectionism]]''. There is ongoing debate as to whether IP laws truly operate to confer the stated public benefits, and whether the protection they are said to provide is appropriate in the context of innovation derived from such things as [[traditional knowledge]] and folklore, and patents for [[software patent|software]] and [[business method patent|business methods]]. Manifestations of this [[controversy]] can be seen in the way different [[jurisdiction]]s decide whether to grant intellectual property protection in relation to subject matter of this kind, and the stark divide on issues of the role and scope of intellectual property laws.

===Chattel slavery===
{{Main|Chattel slavery}}
The term "Slavery" is commonly understood to refer to chattel slavery.
 
The living [[human body]] is, in modern societies, considered something which cannot be the property of anyone but the [[person]] whose body it is. Its opposite, in which the person in the body  does not own their body, is [[slavery|chattel slavery]]. Chattel slavery was defined as the absolute legal ownership of a person, including the legal right to buy and sell them. Persons who were so enslaved did not have the [[freedom]] to direct their own actions, and their legal rights were either severely limited or nonexistent. The [[Antebellum period]] in the [[United States]] is considered both the worst for the exploitation of chattel slaves, and also where the practice aroused such fierce opposition and support that it led to the [[American Civil War]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The Antebellum South {{!}} Boundless US History|url=https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-ushistory/chapter/the-antebellum-south/|access-date=2021-09-02|website=courses.lumenlearning.com}}</ref>

Chattel slavery is currently (2020) illegal in every country in the world. However, until the 19th century slavery in one form or another existed in most societies and was thought of as the normal state of things; slaves of whatever [[ethnicity]] were considered [[racially]] inferior.<ref>{{cite web|title=A brief history of racism in healthcare|url=https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/07/medical-racism-history-covid-19/|access-date=2021-09-02|website=World Economic Forum|language=en}}</ref> Notwithstanding the illegality of enslavement, [[slavery in the 21st century|virtual slavery]] still exists in various forms today, although called by other names.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/1357_slavery_today/index.shtml "Slavery Today"]. [[BBC]].</ref>