This document provides information about Unit III of a business law course, including learning outcomes, required resources, and an overview of real, personal, and intellectual property. The key points are: 1) Unit III focuses on defining limitations of business ownership, classifying intellectual property, and recognizing the relationship between real, personal, and intellectual property. 2) The required resources include a chapter on real, personal, and intellectual property that covers topics like ownership interests in land and the different types of intellectual property. 3) The unit lesson introduces these three types of property, explaining real property as land and fixtures, personal property as tangible movable objects, and intellectual property as intangible creations of the mind like music

1. BBA 3210, Business Law 1
Course Learning Outcomes for Unit III
Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:
5. Define the limitations of all forms of business ownership.
5.1 Define the limitations of business ownership and protecting
property.
6. Classify the different types of intellectual property.
6.1 Recognize how the topics of real, personal, and intellectual
property are related.
6.2 Identify the similarities and differences among the methods
for protecting intellectual
property.
Course/Unit
Learning Outcomes
Learning Activity
5.1
Unit Lesson
Chapter 8, pp. 158–175

2. Unit III Assignment
6.1
Unit Lesson
Chapter 8, pp. 158–175
Unit III Assessment
6.2
Unit Lesson
Chapter 8, pp. 158–175
Unit III Assessment
Unit III Assignment
Required Unit Resources
Chapter 8: Real, Personal, and Intellectual Property, pp. 158–
175
Unit Lesson
Introduction to Property
Most people can easily identify certain types of property. The
car you drive, the home you live in, the clothes
you own—these are all varieties of property. Real property, or
“realty,” is land and everything permanently
attached to it. Personal property consists of tangible, movable
objects. Intellectual property consists of those
intangible things that result from mental creativity, such as
composing music, writing a book, and making a
scientific invention, rather than making a physical effort.

3. Real Property
Owning realty includes more than the surface of the land. There
are three types of realty: airspace rights (at
the top), surface rights (under airspace rights but just under
Earth’s surface), and mineral rights (under
surface rights).
The significance of these three types is well illustrated in
“Special Report: U.S. Builders Hoard Mineral Rights
Under New Homes” (Conlin & Grow, 2013). This describes how
some homebuilders in the United States keep
the subsurface mineral rights for themselves, which is definitely
a situation where caveat emptor (Let the
buyer beware!) applies. This situation illustrates an important
aspect of property ownership—the bundle of
rights, which proposes that owning land is like owning a bundle
of sticks, and each stick represents an
UNIT III STUDY GUIDE
Real, Personal, and Intellectual Property
BBA 3210, Business Law 2
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
individual right. The report describes how some property
developers kept a stick for themselves and sold the

4. bundles without the mineral or subsurface rights to the
unwitting homebuyers (Conlin & Grow, 2013).
The textbook describes each of the various interests in land,
including fee simple absolute, conditional estate,
life estate, future interest, and leasehold estate (Kubasek,
Browne, Herron, Dhooge, & Barkacs, 2016). These
are possessory estates because they involve possessing the land
but not having an ownership interest in the
land. Nonpossessory estates are interests in land that do not
involve possession. Examples of this are
easements, profits, and licenses.
An example of an easement is within the following example.
Imagine the creation of a conservation easement
for purposes such as historic preservation, natural resource-
based outdoor recreation or education,
watershed preservation, and preservation of scenic open space.
The party granting this easement retains
ownership of the land but is allowing it to be used by others for
the stated purposes, without taking anything
from the land. In contrast, a profit allows the right to go onto
someone’s land and take part of the land or a
product of the land away. If easements and profits are properly
recorded, they are transferred with the land to
subsequent owners. Licenses, however, can provide the same
rights but are revocable and temporary in
nature.
Personal Property
Personal property specifically refers to tangible objects that can
be physically moved (e.g., a car).
Intellectual Property (IP)

5. One of the biggest challenges associated with the creation and
ownership of intellectual property (IP) is the
fact that it has the nature of other types of property. This is
often overlooked; however, IP is indeed property,
similar to realty and personal property, and it, too, carries a
bundle of rights, both for the creator of the
property and for the community. Article I, Section 8, Clause 8
of the United States Constitution grants
Congress the power, "To promote the progress of science and
useful arts, by securing for limited times to
authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective
writings and discoveries" (U.S. Const. art. I, § 8).
From this constitutional provision, the legislative and judicial
system decides which rights to set aside for the
creators of IP and which will be left for the public. Possible IP
creator rights include copyright, patent,
trademark, and trade secret.
Under the common law of copyright, a potential user (i.e.,
infringer) may be prevented from reproducing a
copyrighted work. To learn more about the costs, learn more
about the process, and to review the forms
involved, visit the United States Copyright Office
Lincoln promoted the patent system and believed it to be
powerful (Lau & Johnson, 2014).
Thomas Edison, the famed inventor, is responsible for three key
innovations in the United States: the
phonograph, the incandescent light bulb, and a moving picture
camera. He filed over 1,000 patents in his
lifetime (“Thomas Edison’s Patent,” n.d.). The patent
application process is very unique in that the applicant is
required to literally provide a blueprint for his or her invention.
A U.S. patent grants to the applicant 20 years
from the date of application the right to exclusively produce,

6. sell, and use the object. After the exclusivity
period lapses, the patent expires, and anyone can produce, sell,
and use the object. The blueprint provided in
the application is an exchange that bestows the exclusive right
to the applicant but also can help others
reproduce the invention once the patent lapses. Many consider
the patent to be the most protective of all the
forms of IP; however, it is also the shortest-lived.
A trademark connects a product or service with a specific
producer. Trademarks are powerful business tools
in that they are designed to resonate with a consumer in a way
that will perpetuate business (i.e., support the
brand identity). How do trademarks do that? Consider your last
supermarket visit. While strolling down the
laundry detergent aisle, you see dozens of brands in colorful,
uniquely shaped containers. You prefer Tide
laundry detergent and know that it is the orange bottle with the
blue cap. Instantly, you see it and know that is
the detergent you want to purchase because you recognize the
product among all of the others. This is the
power of the trademark. In this example, color, shape, and logo
design are all factors. Can a sound be
trademarked?
http://copyright.gov/forms/
BBA 3210, Business Law 3
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title

7. There is a multitude of rules that regulate the use of trademarks.
The owner of a trade secret is required to take all reasonable
precautions to prevent that secret from being
discovered by others. The formula for Coca-Cola is an excellent
example of a trade secret. Coca-Cola
employees work in different and divided groups so that the
formula remains a secret (Quinn, 2012).
References
Conlin, M., & Grow, B. (2013, October 9). Special report: U.S.
builders hoard mineral rights under new
homes. Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-
fracking-rights-specialreport-
idUSBRE9980AZ20131009
Kubasek, N., Browne, M. N., Herron, D. J., Dhooge, L. J., &
Barkacs, L. (2016). Dynamic business law: The
essentials (4th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Lau, T., & Johnson, L. (2014). The legal and ethical
environment of business (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: Flat
World Knowledge.
Quinn, G. (2012, January 6). Vault with Coca-Cola trade secret
formula on public display. Retrieved from

8. http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2012/01/06/vault-with-coca-cola-
trade-secret-formula-on-public-
display/id=21588/
Thomas Edison's patent application for the light bulb (1880).
(n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=46
U.S. Const. art. I, § 3
Suggested Unit Resources
In order to access the following resource, click the link below.
The suggested reading below is provided to supplement key
concepts in the Unit III Lesson.
U.S. Copyright Office. (n.d.). Forms. Retrieved from
http://copyright.gov/forms/
http://copyright.gov/forms/
Title
First Name Last Name
Walden University

9. Policy and Advocacy for Improving Population Health
NURS 6050
Date
Title of Paper
(add an introduction in this space)
Agenda Comparison Grid and Fact Sheet or Talking Points Brief
Assignment Template for Part 1 and Part 2
Part 1: Agenda Comparison Grid
Use this Agenda Comparison Grid to document information
about the population health/healthcare issue your selected and
the presidential agendas. By completing this grid, you will
develop a more in depth understanding of your selected issue
and how you might position it politically based on the
presidential agendas.
You will use the information in the Part 1: Agenda Comparison
Grid to complete the remaining Part 2 and Part 3 of your
Assignment.
Identify the Population Health concern you selected.
Describe the Population Health concern you selected and the
factors that contribute to it.
Administration (President Name)
President Trump
President Obama
President Bush
Describe the administrative agenda focus related to this issue
for the current and two previous presidents.

10. Identify the allocations of financial and other resources that the
current and two previous presidents dedicated to this issue.
Explain how each of the presidential administrations
approached the issue.
Part 2: Agenda Comparison Grid Analysis
Using the information you recorded in Part 1: Agenda
Comparison Grid, complete the following to document
information about the population health/healthcare issue your
selected
Administration (President Name)
President Trump
President Obama
President Bush
Which administrative agency would most likely be responsible
for helping you address the healthcare issue you selected?
How do you think your selected healthcare issue might get on
the agenda for the current and two previous presidents? How
does it stay there?

11. Who would you choose to be the entrepreneur/
champion/sponsor of the healthcare issue you selected for the
current and two previous presidents?
Narrative with the Facts
Conclusion
References
Agenda Comparison Grid Template
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