Do you own your digital content?

News that Bruce Willis is reportedly considering legal action against Apple to make sure he can leave his virtual record collection to his daughters will have surprised anyone who thought their online possessions were theirs to dispose of as they choose.

So what rights do you have over the accounts and goods that exist only virtually? "Across the world the law is in a state of flux – it hasn't evolved to keep up with innovation in digital content," says Jas Purewal, interactive entertainment and digital media lawyer at Osborne Clarke. "It is set up to deal with physical goods, and it is not clear therefore what the position is with social network accounts, iTunes accounts, your subscription to Netflix, and so on." There are not yet statutory laws around ownership of virtual goods, nor is there case law. The EU is looking at consumer protection in this area, but nothing has yet been passed, so Purelaw says it is being left to the providers of content to decide what they will allow consumers to do with items they buy and share online. He says there are promising signs judges recognize that virtual content can be owned like physical content.