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Possessable or non-possessable? OBG v Allan and the future of intangibles

29 May 2024 / Author(s): James Ramsden KC
Issue: October 2021 / Categories: Feature

The case of OBG v Allan [2007] UKHL 21 in the House of Lords discussed expanding the tort of conversion to things in action but considered it at para 321 to be “too radical” and that there was a clear distinction to be drawn between the “wrongful taking of a document … and the wrong assertion of a right to a chose in action”. In this article the author explores the position of intangibles such as digital assets in relation to being property and thus possessable.

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