The issue is what kind of stream of profits the patents and the developed team will generate going forward, discounted to present value, which dicounted present value is inherently uncertain. Not when you discuss what something IS. You are answering the question, what the VALUE is thererof.
The market place really draws no distinction. I beg to disagree. When you transfer a list of customers, it is definite at the time of the transfer. Both parties know that the future membership on tha tlist is uncertain, but at the time of transfer it is definite.
Patents while having some legal effect, can be invented around, etc., Some legal effect? Yoo mild. A patent covers all future contingencies except the gray area on the "border," so to speak. To use the loophole is costly for the evading party. This rather large legal ground is trasfered as "patent:" everything unless proven otherwise. Note also that here, as in all of your other examples, we are talking about future contingencies. In contrast, one does not know that "ability to work as a team" --- that wonderful "chemistry" is.
Another commonly used management example is "ambiance" in a restaurant. Or "warmth" of the staff. No one knows what these are, and academics reaserch various proxies. Observe that this is before we even pose the question about the portions of future cash flows that may be imputes to these artifacts of the business. These facets are ill-defined, not only valued with uncertainty. "Warm" staff, teams' "chemisrty," etc. are intangible goods. In contrast, a contract, to the extent that it is well-specifies is tangible. Incidentally, economics, too, has recently moved to the study of incomplete contracts.