CCYLA 2014-2015
Board of Directors Rebecca Armstrong, President Dana J. Stewart, Vice PresidentSarah R. Duff, President‐ Elect
Mitch Little, Immediate Past President
Nicholas D. Mosser, Secretary Kelly Kleist, Treasurer Chandler Winslow, Director
Greg Beane, Director Abby Foster, Director Alissa Janke, Director Audra Mayberry, Director
Chris Meuse, Director Stephanie Wooley, Director
Want to write for Docket Call?
Contact Chris Meuse at
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CCYLA
Members
Enjoy
Discounts
at
the
Following
Retailers:
Brooks
Brothers,
Jaspers,
Rugby
House,
Andrea
Jordan
Salon,
Colour
Lounge,
and
Brad
Fraser
of
Salon
Belezza
CCYLA 2014 Kicks Off Strong!
CCYLA kicked off its 2014 campaign with a party at Mi Cocina! The event, which was sponsored by The Parker Firm, was highly attended and marked the opening of 2014‐2015 membership year. CCYLA, with the help of its sponsors, will continue to host networking, charity and educational events throughout the year. Follow CCYLA on Facebook to hear about events and Association news.
Docket
Call
Collin County Young Lawyers October 2014 Volume 16, Issue 2
JOIN US FOR CCYLA HALLOWEEN AT TOPGOLF!
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CTOBER
30, 2014
T
OP
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OLF
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NDREWS
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ARKWAY
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LLEN
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75002
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OSSER
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ECH
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CCYLA SPOTLIGHT
July 2014 Bar Exam Takers
John Kappel
A
Frisco
native,
John
Kappel
graduated
from
Baylor
University
in
2011
with
a
Bachelor
of
Science
in
Economics.
He
returned
to
Dallas
to
attend
SMU
Dedman
School
of
Law,
graduating
cum
laude
last
May.
While
in
law
school,
John
served
as
an
Articles
Editor
for
the
SMU
International
Law
Review
Association.
He
was
accepted
into
CCYLA’s
judicial
internship
program
and
spent
the
summer
after
his
1L
year
in
Judge
Mark
Rusch’s
courtroom.
John
also
interned
with
Judge
Richard
Schell
during
his
2L
year,
and
worked
as
a
Student
Attorney
in
SMU’s
Civil
Clinic
during
his
3L
year.
John
will
receive
his
bar
results
on
November
6
thand
is
looking
for
a
firm
to
work
for.
He
is
specifically
interested
in
practicing
family
law,
civil
litigation,
or
wills,
trusts,
and
estate
planning,
but
is
always
willing
to
try
something
new.
John
enjoys
golfing,
playing
chess,
and
spending
time
with
his
soon
‐
to
‐
be
wife,
Larissa.
John
can
be
reached
at
[email protected]
.
Anna Wortham
After
graduating
law
school
this
year
at
Indiana
University
in
Bloomington,
Indiana,
Anna
Wortham
is
happy
to
finally
be
back
home
in
Texas!
While
she
awaits
her
July
2014
bar
results,
Anna
is
searching
for
a
position
in
the
field
of
business
law,
hoping
to
emphasize
in
soft
IP
‐
trademark
law,
copyright
law,
and
the
related
issues
of
online
privacy,
e
‐
commerce,
and
domain
name
disputes.
Anna
has
also
earned
a
M.B.A.
from
Sungkyunkwan
University
Graduate
School
of
Business,
where
she
ranked
number
two
in
her
class,
and
a
B.A.
in
English
from
Brigham
Young
University,
graduating
Magna
Cum
Laude
with
University
Honors
in
English.
At
Indiana
University
Maurer
School
of
Law,
Anna
graduated
Cum
Laude
and
was
an
associate
on
several
publications,
including
the
Federal
Communications
Law
Journal
and
IP
Theory,
an
Digital and Virtual Assets in Divorce
By
Chris
Meuse
The digital revolution has been upon us. A recent poll conducted by the company McAfee found that, in the U.S., people value their digital assets at nearly $55,000.00; however, digital and virtual assets are often overlooked or go unvalued in divorce. As our daily lives are increasingly played out on digital and virtual landscapes, family law practitioners need to start thinking about digital and virtual assets when assessing marital estates.
The first step, as with any asset in divorce, is determining whether a party has any digital or virtual assets and identifying what those assets are. Digital assets are intangibles that only exist in a digital form (i.e. data in the form of binary digits). Such assets may include: e‐mail and social network accounts; websites; domain names; digital media, such as pictures, music, e‐books, movies, and video; blogs; reward points; digital storefronts; artwork; and data storage accounts. These assets, although intangible, are marital property and are subject to characterization, valuation and division, during divorce.
Virtual assets are intangibles used in virtual worlds or massively multiplayer online role‐playing games (“MMORPGs” for short). Popular, online communities, such as World of Warcraft, Second Life, and Entropia, draw millions of users worldwide, who spend billions of dollars each year within these virtual realms. In 2009, 3.8 billion dollars were spent on MMORPGs, with over $100 million going towards virtual assets in these online communities. These assets range from virtual pets; avatars; accessories for those avatars (clothing, weapons, etc.); prizes; virtual real estate; to virtual currency. The popularity of these virtual worlds and games is only growing, and family law attorneys must realize these assets are out there and should start asking if they are a part of marital estates.
After a digital or virtual asset is identified, its separate or community property character must be determined, as well as its value. Since this is still an emerging issue, national case law is sparse on what divorce courts are doing with digital and virtual assets; however, there is no indication that a digital or virtual asset would be characterized differently than a tangible asset. Thus, Texas courts should apply characterization techniques and law, such as tracing and inception of title, as if the digital/virtual asset were any other tangible property. For example, if a blog was started during the marriage, it should be considered community property. If a blog were started before the marriage, but it was monetized and produced income during the marriage, that income would likely be considered community property.
UPCOMING
CCYLA
EVENTS
October
30,
2014
–
Halloween
Top
Golf!
November
13,
2014
–
Legal
Aid
Clinic
December
2014
–
Charity
&
Networking
Event
Want
to
Join
CCYLA?
Visit
our
website
today
and
apply!
And, if the spouse who did not come into the marriage with that blog contributed to it by posting to it, editing it, or advancing it in any way, the community estate may have a reimbursement claim against the other spouse’s separate property estate for increase in value to that blog.
How one values a digital or virtual asset varies, depending on the asset. Many personal, digital assets, such as photos or videos, have little to no market value but have great sentimental value to parties. Other digital assets, such as websites, personal blogs, or domain names can have great value. For instance, the most expensive domain name ever sold, vacationrentals.com, went for $35 million in 2007. Many web‐based services are available to value digital assets, and many of those same services can be used to sell such assets. The value of virtual assets can often be determined in the virtual marketplace. Thousands of transactions take place daily for virtual goods, and like digital assets, the value of virtual goods should not be underestimated. In 2010, for example, a virtual nightclub, Club Neverdie, ran by Jon Jacobs in the virtual Entropia Universe (a virtual world with a real‐cash economy) sold for $635,000.00.
After a digital or virtual asset is identified and its character and value determined, parties must still figure out how to assign or divide that asset. Some digital assets, such as airline miles or membership points, can be transferred. Other digital assets, like digital photos or videos can be copied. But some assets, like e‐books or other digital media files cannot be transferred. When parties own digital or virtual assets that cannot be transferred or copied, practitioners must value such assets, award them to one party, and provide value to the other party, in lieu of those digital/virtual assets.
The world of digital and virtual assets is vast, and as we continue to spend more time and money on digital and virtual goods, family law attorneys must be asking the questions to discover digital and virtual assets. If these assets are overlooked, attorneys and parties could be leaving real, not virtual, dollars on the table. (Article First Published in DBA Headnotes)
