Market forces operate for a non tangible property rights in the same way that they operate for tangible things. If transactions costs are sufficiently low, then the legal authority needn't worr himself herself about how to initially allocate the thing. Those property rights will eventually wind up in the hands of the people who value them most and can put them to best economic use.
Don Boudreaux of George Mason University and Cafe Hayek talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the intellectual legacy of Ronald Coase. The conversation centers on Coase's four most important academic articles. Most of the discussion is on two of those articles, "The Nature of the Firm," which continues to influence how economists think of firms and transaction costs, and "The Problem of Social Cost," Coase's pathbreaking work on externalities.