What is "intangible asset"

n. 1 (context accounting English) intangible personal property, acquired for money, that does not have a face value or a ready market. 2 (context business English) Any valuable property of a business that is not does not appear on the balance sheet, including intellectual property, customer lists, and goodwill.

n. assets that are saleable though not material or physical [syn: intangible]

An intangible asset is an asset that lacks physical substance (unlike physical assets such as machinery, software and buildings) and usually is very hard to evaluate. It includes patents, copyrights, franchises, goodwill, trademarks, trade names, the general interpretation also includes software and other intangible computer based assets. Contrary to other assets, they generally—though not necessarily—suffer from typical market failures of non-rivalry and non-excludability.