Cycle of Webinars on Legal Implications of Digital Assets

Speaker: Prof. Kateryna Nekit, National University «Odessa Law Academy», Odessa, Ukraine

Chair: Prof. Nadia Maccabiani, University of Brescia

• October 3rd, 3:30 p.m.
  Digital ownership: European and American perspectives
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• October 10th, 2:30 p.m.
  Digital assets: notion, types, legal landscape
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• October 17th, 2:30 p.m.
  Personal and machine-generated data ownership issues
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• October 24th, 11:15 a.m.
  Social media and online gaming accounts
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• October 24th, 2:30 p.m.
  Cryptocurrencies, NFT and other crypto-assets
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• October 28th, 2:30 p.m.
  Digital inheritance
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The amount and value of new digital objects due to the ongoing development of information technologies and covered by the concept "digital assets" is constantly and impressively growing. However, the legal landscape for such objects is still under considerations. The main issue that needs to be resolved to ensure rights of digital assets' holders is which legal provisions are the most appropriate for the regulation of relations regarding digital assets. Recent legislative findings are considering the possibility to apply property law provisions to the latter. This creates a new concept of digital ownership, which might be implemented on the legislative level, having its specific features in common and civil law systems.

The seminars aim to both, understanding of the digital assets and ways to protect rights to digital assets in terms of current legislation and case law as well as defining digital ownership as a perspective way to protect rights to digital assets. Based on that, the seminars cover the following topics:

1. Digital assets: notion, types, legal landscape

2. Digital ownership: European and American perspectives

3. Personal and machine-generated data ownership issues

4. Cryptocurrencies, NFT and other crypto-assets

5. Social media and online gaming accounts

6. Digital inheritance

The first topic aims to introduce current approaches to the definition of digital assets, describe types of digital assets and recent legislative findings on digital assets regulation. In the second, the concept of digital ownership as a type of ownership will be described, current developments on implementing this concept in European and American legal field will be highlighted, the feasibility and necessity of this concept for protection of rights to digital assets will be explained. The third seminar looks into the current legal regulation of personal and machine-generated data, including GDPR, Database Directive and Data Act. It also aims to describe the concept of data ownership and its correlation with digital ownership. Issues of correlation between information and data concepts will be discussed in this section. The fourth seminar aims to discuss approach to legal regulation of cryptocurrencies and other crypto-assets both at the European and national legislative level. It specifically focuses on the issues of NFT, including their transfer and connection to intellectual property rights. The fifth seminar focuses on Social media and online gaming that will be discussed from the digital ownership perspective. Tradable elements of the account will be revealed, current possibilities to protect rights and get benefits from social and online gaming accounts considering provisions of the Terms of Service will be discussed. The last seminar will deal with digital inheritance current issues and instruments to define post-mortal fate of digital assets. Possible legal frames for common and civil law to dispose of digital assets will be highlighted, the US experience to solve this issue will be considered.