Virtual property in the digital age: legal nature and regulatory approaches

Аннотация

What should be the legal mechanisms for the ACCEPTED 14 June 2025 PUBLISHED 16 July 2025 protection of user rights in relation to virtual property, VOLUME Vol.07 Issue07 2025 there is no uniform approach to the question of which direction countries should take. Currently, there is no CITATION uniform approach to the protection of the user's rights to virtual game property in world jurisprudence. In Yakubov Akhtam Nusratullaevich. (2025). Virtual property in the digital age: legal nature and regulatory approaches. The American Journal of vertical relations, that is, when considering disputes Political Science Law and Criminology, 7(07), 29–33. arising from the relationship between the developer https://doi.org/10.37547/tajpslc/Volume07Issue07-06 and the user, the courts in most cases prefer to apply the theory of natural obligations and the theory of service provision. In many countries, the transaction of COPYRIGHT virtual property is not legally regulated. The transfer of © 2025 Original content from this work may be used under the terms virtual game property is considered the transfer of of the creative commons attributes 4.0 License. rights of claim to the virtual property by the developer of the game to the participant. The author analyzed the legal description of virtual property, which is considered one of the objects of the digital world, based on national and foreign experience, and analyzed the need to find them as a separate independent object in civil legislation. Keywords: Virtual property, digital objects, cryptocurrency, blockchain technology, digitalization, information technology. Introduction: At the current stage of social development, along with the introduction of new technologies in all spheres of life, there is a need to solve the legal problems that arise in connection with them. In the process of digitalization of the economy, it is possible to encounter objects of civil legal relations of property that has economic value but is not sufficiently regulated legally. Views that virtual property can be regarded as an object of trade relations in the market due to its economic value, and that the foundations for commercialization of virtual property take different forms depending on the The American Journal of Political Science Law and Criminology 29 https://www.theamericanjournals.com/index.php/tajpslc The American Journal of Political Science Law and Criminology type of particular object, are growing stronger year by regulating virtual space. year. If the formation of demand for domain names is Electronic commerce, intellectual property, protection related to the uniqueness and irreplaceability of the of honor, dignity and business reputation have emerged object (the impossibility of having two sites with one as the main relations requiring civil-legal regulation in domain), then the value of virtual property in games is the Internet network. The world of virtual games has considered significant because users-game remained outside the field of legal regulation, and the participants spend real money to purchase it, that is, it main arguments for this are, first of all, the prevailing is formed by purchasing it in exchange for real money assessment that virtual games are entertainment events [9; 45-59]. – a process of spending leisure time consisting of games Virtual world events lead to real consequences even and fun [9; 45-59]. for persons who do not participate as participants – In scientific research and arbitration practice, the need players or users. Examples of this can be found in for legal regulation of the virtual world by the state is issues related to property hidden by individuals in the determined by three main approaches. Representatives virtual world when dividing common property with of the first approach, which denies the influence of law spouses, distributing inheritance, or including property on the virtual world, believe that all property issues in the share mass in bankruptcy. There is no need to go related to virtual games should be entirely within the far in this regard, a number of cases considered in discretion of IT engineers who are the creators of these arbitration courts of CIS countries confirm this opinion games. [8]. The second approach is expressed through B. The lack of legal regulation of virtual property Duranske's «magic circle» rule. According to this circulation results in the inability of persons who are approach, it is proposed that law supporters should not game participants to adequately protect their resort to real-world legal norms to regulate these rights in mutual relations with the creators and processes only when events in the virtual world produce developers of these games, and the absence of legal legal consequences for the real world [2; 55-56]. guarantees for this leads to violations of the principle Based on this rule, the idea emerges that relations in the of fairness in protecting property rights. virtual world today need to be full