디지털 자산의 유형과 상속에 관한 소고

The economic value of data in a digital environment is formed by combining technology, user activities, and platform structure. As a result, new types of assets that are difficult to embrace with traditional concepts are emerging. In particular, digital assets are characterized by the combination of multiple rights in one asset, so even if inheritance begins, the right to access, use, claim benefits, and contractual status cannot be comprehensively transferred to the heir in accordance with the principles of the inheritance law. Therefore, this paper first tried to categorize digital assets into platform-based assets, content-oriented assets, and hybrid assets by further subdividing them from the existing types, and specifically analyzed the legal nature and property of each type of digital asset. Next, in order to find the problems of the inheritance law surrounding digital assets and ways to improve them, the current status of the digital asset inheritance law in Korea was examined, and furthermore, in order to find comparative legal implications, it attempted to analyze legal issues in inheritance by type, focusing on legislation in foreign countries such as the United States, the EU, and Estonia. Through this, it was intended to suggest the possibility of an interpretation-integrated approach that includes digital assets as the subject of comprehensive succession under civil law and supplements procedural and technical matters through special laws or sub-norms. Since the inheritance of digital assets functions as assets that affect the distribution of social information and economic activities beyond personal life, ultimately incorporating them into the civil law inheritance system is essential for the protection of property rights and the improvement of the inheritance system in the digital age.