Real, Intellectual, Personal Property, and Business Ethics

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Characteristics of real property

Real property’s outstanding characteristic is its immobility. For that reason, the geographic location of real property cannot be changed. Another outstanding characteristic of real property is its indestructibility (Rogers, 2012).

Characteristics of personal property

The main characteristic of personal property is its mobility. According to Suzy Rogers (2012), personal properties such as furniture, most machinery, and fixtures are highly mobile in nature. Personal property is also destructible.

Characteristics of intellectual property

Intellectual property is treated as information and, therefore, the intellectual property assets can be attributed to the characteristics of public goods. In regards to this, the two main characteristics of intellectual property include non-rivalry and non-excludability.

Owners’ of real, intellectual, and personal property rights under the law

Owners of personal, intellectual and real property are not subjected to the same rights under the law. Under the law, real property means land, including buildings on land and trees and crops that grow on it and the rights over land. All other rights, for example, the rights of occupancy of a house or a piece of land for a certain number of years or right of ownership of a watch, or a claim to be paid a sum of money at a particular time, are treated as personal property. A leasehold interest in land is still treated as personal property but to distinguish it from the personal property it is referred to as chattels real (Rogers, 2012). On the other hand, any work of art, inventions, innovations, and trade names are treated as intellectual property under the law (Rogers, 2012).

Why it is in the best interest of society to treat these types of property differently

Society should treat the real property, personal property, and intellectual property differently because they have different natures and characteristics. Because of their differences in nature and characteristics, there is no single remedy that society can apply to these types of property concurrently (Rogers, 2012). Therefore, it would be unfair if the society treated these types of property the same because no single remedy can be available to a dispossessed person in case they are treated the same.

Consideration of the requirements imposed by Sarbanes-Oxley on corporate boards of directors. Do small businesses and privately held companies have ethical duties and to whom would they owe this duty

In regards to these requirements, businesses should have an ethical responsibility. These businesses owe ethical duty to investors (Orlikoff and Totten, 2004). As a matter of fact, the main objective of Sarbanes Oxley is to protect investors’ interest and renew public trust in corporations and their boards (Orlikoff and Totten, 2004).

Should the law impose ethical requirements on small businesses or privately held companies or can the marketplace police unethical business behavior?

The law should enforce ethical requirements on these businesses because without ethical requirements; businesses would engage in unfair competitions. For instance, some businesses may decide to overstate their financial statements in an attempt to attract more investors (Orlikoff and Totten, 2004). Corporations have a duty, shared with other institutions and individuals, to take precautionary approaches to mitigate the potential negative impact of their activities to the environment (Orlikoff and Totten, 2004). Therefore, the law should ensure that business activities are in line with certain codes of ethics.

References

Orlikoff, J. E., and Totten, M. (2004). Governance in the spotlight: what the Sarbanes-Oxley Act means for you. Trustee: the Journal for Hospital Governing Boards, 57(8), 15-18.

Rogers, S.K. (2012). Essentials of Business Law. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

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