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tape. Comshare, Inc. v. United States, 27 F.3d at 1150. Turning
to this Court's application of the test of tangibility set forth
in Texas Instruments, Inc. v. United States, supra, the Sixth
Circuit stated:
We express no view as to whether the Fifth
Circuit's “totally dependent” test was applied
correctly in Ronnen. If the same test is applied to
the facts of record here, however, it seems clear to us
that the property acquired by Comshare was no less
tangible than the property acquired by the taxpayer in
Texas Instruments. * * * the critically important fact
is that the taxpayer's investment could not be put to
productive use, and would thus be worthless, unless the
information were embodied on tapes and discs accessible
to the taxpayer. [Comshare, Inc. v. United States,
supra at 1150.]
The court concluded that Comshare was entitled to an investment
tax credit on the total cost of the master source codes and
associated intellectual property rights.
C. Examining the Distinction Between Seismic Data and a
Computer Program
This Court in Ronnen v. Commissioner, supra, applied the
intrinsic value test set forth in Texas Instruments, Inc. v.
United States, supra, and held that the computer software in
issue in that case was intangible property for purposes of the
ITC. We did so without making either a rigorous analysis of the
rationale underlying that test or a detailed comparison of the
computer software in issue and the seismic data tapes and film in
Texas Instruments, Inc. v. United States, supra. This Court
determined, implicitly, that the intangible component of the
property in issue, the computer program, existed as property
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