When Lance Cpl. Justin Ellsworth was killed in Iraq, his death sparked a controversy about e-mail ownership, with his parents suing for access to his Yahoo account. If Ellsworth had printed his e-mails, they likely would have been the property of his estate. But, says attorney Mark D. Rasch, ownership of electronic information is tied to ownership of the medium in which the information is stored. The case is the first of its kind to be widely reported, but the issue is apt to recur.
Details here from IP Law & Business via Law.com.