What is meant by transfer of development rights?

Answer 1

Development rights are often heard of in terms of books becoming movies, but they're not limited to that.

Copyright law gives the rightsholder the exclusive rights to create derivative works or authorize others to do so, and patent law gives the patent holder the exclusive rights to make, use, sell, or distribute the invention or authorize others to do so. Development rights are in regard to the authorization of others: I am giving you permission to develop or exploit this in ways I cannot.

This permission can be exclusive or non-exclusive, transferrable or non-transferrable, and so on, based on the language of the agreement. If I give you exclusive but transferrable permission to develop my widget machine, but you get out of the widget business before you do anything with it, you can transfer that permission to someone else. Likewise if I give you permission to develop my novel into a film, but you decide it's hopeless, you can transfer the development rights to another studio.

Answer 2

Transfer of development rights (TDR) is a planning tool that allows landowners to transfer the development rights from one property to another. This means that the rights to build or develop on one property can be sold or transferred to another property, often with the goal of preserving or protecting the first property from further development. TDR can be used to encourage conservation, historic preservation, or to promote urban redevelopment in certain areas.