Virtual assets should be treated as a species of property. Users of virtual environments have legitimate expectations about acquiring legal interests in virtual assets as they would in their physical counterparts under similar circumstances. There are two sources of these expectations. Firstly, it is the architecture of virtual environments, the existence of virtual economies, and the property-like characteristics of virtual assets that frame users' expectations. Secondly, providers' representations and conduct either explicitly authorise or tolerate virtual asset transactions. As a result, issues of title and ownership arise. The existing legal framework fails to deal properly with these issues. Currently applicable laws, such as contract, intellectual property or consumer protection law, do not recognise users' expectations as legitimate. However, property law could provide the necessary answers by treating virtual assets as part of the law of property. The theoretical foundations of property law inform us about the origins, justifications and consequences of property rights, as well as their role in allocating valuable resources and resolving social conflict. The concept of virtual property entails property rights in virtual assets, which as durable, separable things of independent value. In consequence, a new category of virtual property would resolve the different and unjustified treatment of virtual assets. Virtual property recognizes and protects users' legal interest in virtual assets, based on their legitimate expectations.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-09-28T17:18:21Z No. of bitstreams: 1 tamaralisreisumbelino.pdf: 2707043 bytes, checksum: 3547651ba2d3aab56e78fdd449afbfb4 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Diamantino Mayra (mayra.diamantino@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-09-30T13:38:30Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 tamaralisreisumbelino.pdf: 2707043 bytes, checksum: 3547651ba2d3aab56e78fdd449afbfb4 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-30T13:38:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 tamaralisreisumbelino.pdf: 2707043 bytes, checksum: 3547651ba2d3aab56e78fdd449afbfb4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-05-25 / A presente tese de doutoramento em Ciências Sociais aborda a cultura Hip-Hop em Juiz de Fora, buscando reconhecer como se dá a formação da identidade rapper na periferia da cidade tomando como referência as importantes mudanças pelas quais ela vem passando, como por exemplo de que forma um grupo de universitários, moradores das regiões mais ricas da cidade reinterpreta os princípios fundantes do hip-hop e como são vistos pelos rappers da periferia que, durante muito tempo, tiveram sua identidade definida pelos pilares deste movimento. Como esta minoria, não numericamente, mas em direitos, vê o fato de assistir a outros porta-vozes assumirem os microfones e falarem em seu nome. Também pretendemos compreender um fenômeno que se mostra cada vez mais crescente entre os integrantes do Movimento Hip-Hop e sua relação com as redes sociais como alternativa de combate à forma desvantajosa de inserção na sociedade capitalista. O aprofundamento no estudo sobre a forma como se dá este processo excludente se torna cada vez mais complexo por não mais se restringir ao velho conceito de miséria e/ou pobreza, mas, sim, ser capaz de compreender as nuances trazidas por uma nova configuração da sociedade não necessariamente centrada nos aspectos relativos ao trabalho. Na compreensão deste fenômeno foi necessário trilhar um caminho passando por teorias da Sociologia, Antropologia e Comunicação Social. Trabalhando com os conceitos de identidade e reconhecimento, buscamos compreender como se dá a formação da identidade moderna em um cenário de crescente valorização da individualidade e negligenciamento dos “valores-fortes”, ocasionando enfraquecimento dos valores morais. Levando em conta a importância do reconhecimento de que o contexto social no qual nos encontramos é resultado do curso da história que nos trouxe até aqui. Para o desenvolvimento desta tese foi realizada uma pesquisa que norteou o trabalho de campo em busca de conhecer os participantes do movimento hip-hop na cidade e sua configuração no mundo online e off-line. Utilizando ferramentas como questionários virtuais, pesquisa de campo, produção de material audiovisual e netnografia buscamos compreender de que maneira as ações em busca de reconhecimento e valorização de identidades são modificadas por uma ressignificação do que simboliza ser um rapper. / This doctoral thesis in Social Sciences reflects about the “Hip Hop” culture in the city of Juiz de Fora; more specifically, about the manner that a group of university students, that lives in one of richest places in the city, reinterprets the fundamental principles of the “Hip Hop” and the way they are seen by the rappers that live in the periphery that, for so long, had their identity shaped by the principles of this movement. How this minority, not in terms of numbers, but in terms of rights, see the fact the other groups take the microphone and speak in their names. We also intend to comprehend a phenomenon that has grown among the “Hip Hop” groups and their relations with social network as a form to combat a very disadvantageous way to be inserted in a capitalist society between social universes so distant to each other, like the periphery and the centre. The complexity of this study gets bigger because this study does not refer to the classical category of misery/poverty; but, on the contrary, try to comprehend the nuances brought by a new configuration of society not necessarily focused on work dimension. In the comprehension of this phenomenon it was necessary to go a long way in the path going through an array of theories from Sociology, Anthropology and Communication. Working with the concepts of identity and recognition, we try to understand how modern identity is made up in a scenario of growing importance of individuality and growing appreciation of important values and neglecting of “strong values”, leading to a weakening of moral values. Taking into account the importance of the recognition that the social context in which we are rooted is the outcome of the history that brought us here. In order to develop this thesis it was undertaken a research that organized the work field to know the “Hip Hop” groups in the city and their configuration both on-line and off-line. Using tool like virtual surveys, work field and audio-visual material production and “netnography”, we try to understand the ways in which the actions taken to get recognition and appreciation of identity are changed by the resignification of what means to be a rapper.

It is a truism that the legal system lags behind societal and technological developments. The common system of VAT is no exception. The objective of this thesis is to examine how the existing VAT rules applies to virtual assets, in particular NFTs and purchasable collectibles in computer games. The aim is to study how transactions with these assets are classified from a VAT perspective and to evaluate whether this classification is compatible with the VAT neutrality principle and the function of VAT as a general tax on final consumption.  One finding related to the classification part of this thesis is that these transactions, which often involve a token and an underlying asset, are treated as a composite supply of services and not a supply of goods for VAT purposes. This implies that the special scheme for second-hand goods cannot be applied. Other classification aspects to assess whether the supply falls within the scope of VAT and whether the supply is taxed or exempt, are also analyzed. There is no ground for NFTs or other virtual assets to be exempt generally. Though, certain types or functions for NFTs may be exempt as financial transactions. The evaluation concludes that the existing rules are partly adapted to handle transactions with these types of virtual assets conducted in a virtual environment. However, the existing rules could lead to an unmotivated double taxation, which may preclude the pursuit of economic activities.

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