Chapter 8
Personal Property
Personal Property
• Is everything, other than real property (land,
buildings, the earth below and the air above,
items permanently attached to real property such
as stoves and kitchen cabinets) that can be
owned.
• Tangible personal property is property that has
substance and can be touched, such as a CD
player, vehicle or food.
• Intangible personal property is property that has
no substance and cannot be touched, such as
patents, copyrights, and trademarks.
Most Property is acquired by:
• Purchase
• Gift
• Inheritance
Co-Ownership of Personal Property
• When two or more people own personal property
as tenants in common, each owner’s share
passes to his or her heirs upon death.
• If the property is owned as joint tenants, each
owner’s share passes to the surviving joint
tenants upon death.
• Community Property (recognized by 9 states) is
property acquired by the personal efforts of
either spouse during marriage, it belongs to both
spouses equally (except a gift or inheritance).
Lost Misplaced and Abandoned Property
• Lost Property: If you find a lost item you have a
legal duty to find the true owner. After following
the local requirements, if the owner is not
located, you may keep the item.
• Misplaced: If an item is found in a store or
restaurant you must notify the proprietor and
leave it with them.
• Abandoned Property: property discarded by the
owner with the intent to reclaim it, you may keep
it.
Stolen Property
• A person has no title to goods that are stolen and
cannot give good title to anyone else.
• If you purchase a stolen item in good faith (you
didn’t know it was stolen) you are obliged to
return it to the owner.
• Owner of the stolen goods has the legal right to
regain possession.
Gifts of Personal Property
• A gift of Personal Property is completed when
three requirements are met:
• The donor (gift-giver) must intend to make the
gift
• The gift must be delivered.
• The donee (gift-receiver) must accept the gift.
Once all the requirements are met, the gift
cannot be taken back by the original owner.
Intellectual Property
• Is an original work fixed in a tangible medium of
expression.
– Example: Inventions, Works of Art, Software
and logos.
• The increase of computers has made Intellectual
Property laws extremely important.
• Patents, Copyrights and Trademarks assure that
the rightful owners of intellectual property will
have exclusive rights to their creations.
Patents
• Is a grant giving an inventor the exclusive right
to make, use or sell an invention for a period of
time set by Congress.
• The time period is usually 20 years.
To be patented a device must be useful and
consist of a new principle or idea.
• It must not be obvious to people with ordinary
skill in the field.
Patents
• Example: In 1999, Smucker’s Company obtained
a patent on Uncrustables – Frozen, crustless
peanut butter and jelly pockets. Later, the
company sought to expand its patent, arguing
that the sealed edge was one of a kind. The
court held against the expansion, saying that the
crimped edges on Uncrustables are similar to
ravioli or pie crust. The patent office said it
would reexamine the original patent given to
Smucker’s.
Copyrights
• Is a right granted to an author, composer,
photographer, or artist to exclusively publish and
sell an artistic or literary work.
• Printed items, computer software, graphic arts,
architectural designs, motion pictures, and
sound recording.
Copyrights
• Copyrighted works are protected for the life of
the author plus 70 years.
• Under the fair use doctrine, copyrighted material
may be reproduced without permission in
certain cases.
• Literary criticism, news reporting, teaching,
school reports, and other research.
• The amount of and use of the material must be
reasonable and not harmful to the copyright
owner.
Trademarks
• Is a distinctive mark, symbol, or slogan used by
a business to identify and distinguish its goods
from products sold by others.
• May consist of a Word, Name, or Symbol that
has been adopted as a trademark.
• A trademark continues for 10 years and can be
renewed for an additional 10 years.
• The symbol ® indicates that a trademark is
legally registered.
Bailments
• Is a transfer of possession and control of personal
property to another with the intent that the same
property will be returned later.
• The person who transfers the property is the bailor;
the person to whom the property is transferred to is
the bailee.
• There is NO intent to pass title to property.
• The Bailee must return the property to the Bailor.
• The bailee has a responsibility to exercise a certain
standard of care of the property. The standard of
care depends on who receives the most benefit from
the bailment.
There are three types of
Bailment:
• Special
• Gratuitous
• Mutual Benefit
Special Bailment
• Special Bailment: is a bailment for the sole
benefit of the bailee.
• If you borrow a friend’s laptop, with nothing
offered in return, you alone benefit from the
bailment. This type of bailment requires great
care. You (bailee) are liable for any kind of
damage to the laptop while it is in your
possession.
Gratuitous Bailment
• Gratuitous Bailment: Is a bailment for the sole
benefit of the bailor.
• Your friend asks you to hold their watch while
they go swimming. Since your friend, as the
bailor, is receiving the sole benefit, you are
required to use only slight care and can only be
held liable for gross negligence. If the watch is
either scratched or stolen you are not liable.
Mutual Benefit Bailment
• Mutual Benefit Bailment: is a bailment in which
both the bailor and the bailee receive benefits.
• If you (bailor) leave your car at the garage to be
repaired, and the mechanic (bailee) will receive
payment for the service. This would require
reasonable care, care a reasonable person would
use.
Sale-on-Consignment and Saleon-Approval
• Type of mutual benefit bailment
• The consignor entrusts goods to the consignee
for the purpose of selling them.
• If the goods are sold, the consignee forwards the
proceeds, minus a fee, to the consignor.
• If the goods are not sold they are returned to the
consignor.
Tortious Bailees
• Bailees have the right to use the bailors property
for the purpose for which the bailment was
created.
• Use for another purpose or for a longer time than
agreed upon is a wrongful act.
• Tortious Bailee: someone who holds property
wrongful.
– Includes someone who keeps someone else’s
stolen property or knowingly possesses stolen
property, or refuses to return property at the end
of a bailment.
Burden of Proof
• If items are damaged while in the hands of the
bailee, the bailor is not in a position to know
what caused the lost.
• If a bailor brings suite for damages, courts shift
the burden of proof to the one who is in the best
position to know what happened, the bailee.
• Burden is on the bailee to prove lack of evidence.
Special Bailments
• HotelKeepers and Common Carirers
Hotel Keepers
• A hotelkeeper is the operator of a hotel, motel, or inn
that regularly offers rooms to the public for a price.
– If rooms are available, a hotel keeper must accept
all people who are not dangerous to the health,
welfare, or safety of others and go are able to pay
their lodging. The Civil Rights Act makes it
illegal to discriminate, refuse a room, to anyone
on the grounds of race, creed, color, gender, or
national origin.
Hotel Keepers
• Hotels and Motels must provide a minimum
standard of comfort, safety, and sanitation.
– Minimum Standards include, heat and
ventilation, clean beds, and reasonable quiet
surrounds. Guests are guaranteed the right to
privacy.
– With exceptions, hotelkeepers are held by law to
be insurers of their guests’ property. In the event
of a loss, the hotelkeeper may be held liable,
regardless of the amount of care exercised.
Hotel Keepers
– Exceptions:
• Losses caused by as guest’s own negligence.
• Losses to the guest property due to acts of the
public enemy (such as terrorists or wartime
enemies).
• Loss of property because of accidental fire in
which no negligence may be attributed to the
hotelkeeper.
Hotel Keepers Lien on Credit Card
Blocking
• If a guest cannot pay their bill, the hotelkeeper
may hold the guests property as security for
payment at a later date.
• Credit Card Blocking: Guests are asked for a
credit card number when they register. The hotel
contacts the credit card company with the
estimated cost of the bill. If the card company
approves the transaction, the guest’s available line
of credit reduced by the estimated amount. The
actual charge takes place after the guest has
checked out.
Common Carriers
• A Carrier is a business that transports persons,
goods, or both.
• Common Carrier is a carrier that is compensated for
providing transportation to the general public.
• Cannot turn people away who ask for their services.
Common Carriers of Goods
• Liable for damages regardless of whether they
are negligent, unless the damage is a result of an
act of God, the public enemy, public authorities,
the shipper, and the inherent nature of the
goods.
Common Carriers
• Common carriers:
– are not required to accept goods they are not
equipped to carry.
– may refuse goods that are inherently dangerous.
– may refuse goods that are improperly packaged.
– may refuse goods that are not delivered at the
proper place and time.
– Common carriers will not be excused from
liability for losses due to strikes, mob violence,
fire and other similar causes.
– The carrier may sell the goods if the shipper
and/or the party selling the goods refuses or does
not to pay.
Common Carriers for Passengers
• Responsible for protecting passengers.
• Not responsible is the injuries are unforeseeable
or unpreventable.
• Airlines must screen passengers and luggage;
anyone who refuses must be refused
transportations.
Bumped Airline Passengers
• Bumped passengers may be entitled to
compensations plus the money back for their
tickets.
Baggage
• Common carriers are required to accept a
reasonable amount of baggage per person.
• You may ship excess baggage for a fee.
• Lost luggage: maximum liability is $2500.00.