Opinion ID: 1700951
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Whether syndicated materials are tangible personal property.

Text: Recently, in Sioux Falls Newspapers, supra, we held that syndicated materials are tangible personal property. In that case, the Argus Leader claimed that the syndicated materials were intangible information placed on pieces of paper which were merely transferred by a tangible medium. We specifically stated: It is not necessary for us to determine whether intangible information may be severed from the tangible medium of transmission. The items involved in this assessment are not raw information, but the tangible end product of an individual's skills. See Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. v. Tax Commissioner, [176 Conn. 604], 410 A.2d 457, 461 (Conn. 1979). Columns, features, and editorials such as those written by Art Buchwald, Ann Landers, Erma Bombeck, Sylvia Porter, George Will, and Ellen Goodman, are not just rote reporting of current news events; they are the finished product of a writer's skills. Likewise, the comics are the finished product of an artist's or writer's skills. Therefore, we hold that these syndicated materials are tangible personal property. (Emphasis in original.) 423 N.W.2d at 810. Just as the syndicated materials in Sioux Falls Newspapers were deemed to be tangible personal property, so are the syndicated materials presented in this case.