Who owns my avatar? - Rights in virtual property

Manifestation of the Rule of “Who owns you?” and Position of Ethics in Civil Law

  Background: The rule "anyone who has the power over things" is one of the legal rules that the jurists of Islam have been referring to for more than a thousand years and it is very useful in trials and even administrative authorities. It is also one of the most important and practical rules in civil and jurisprudential law because it is closely related to confession, which is one of the main...

Choosing My Avatar & the Psychology of Virtual Worlds: What Matters?

Who Owns Native Nature? Discourses of Rights to Land, Culture, and Knowledge in New Zealand

Michael Brown famously asked ‘Who owns native culture?’ This paper revisits that question by analyzing what happens to culture when the culturally defined boundary between it and nature becomes salient in the context of disputes between indigenous and settler populations. My case study is the dispute between the New Zealand government and Maori tribal groupings concerning ownership of the fores...

Who owns scientific data? The impact of intellectual property rights on the scientific publication chain

Intellectual property rights have become increasingly important in scientific research. As the legal regime has been tightened and attitudes of funders, employers and researchers have changed, serious challenges are emerging to the free flow of ideas and information on which the scientific enterprise rests. It is important that individual scientists are aware of their rights and convinced to us...

MMORPGing - The Legalities of Game Play

MMORPGs [3] are big business; large numbers of people engage in some form of online gaming experience. Given the prevalence of such virtual spaces there is an increasing awareness that disputes can, and often, do arise about property and rights in online games. Online games and MMORPGs are governed by EULAs. Each user is required to consent to the EULA of the particular game or world they seek ...