Game equipment, QQ accounts, WeChat official accounts...Internet resources with asset attributes are increasingly entering people’s lives——

　　Virtual property, strengthening protection needs to be recruited (first-line investigation·new observation on the Internet⑧)

　　As the Internet becomes more and more closely related to people's real life, various types of virtual properties continue to accumulate in the "cloud". In addition to the virtual property directly related to "money" such as Alipay and game equipment, network resources such as social platform accounts also have certain asset attributes. At present, the protection of virtual property is still being explored, and it is urgent for all parties to jointly build a protection mechanism.

　　“My Weibo has recorded my bit by bit over the past 10 years, and has witnessed many important moments in my life.” Ms. Yang, a media person in Guangzhou, said that 10 years ago, she registered a Weibo account. Later, some marketing accounts felt that Bo's nickname is very eye-catching. Since a nickname can only be used by one user, the price is from hundreds of yuan to tens of thousands of yuan. Later, Ms. Yang’s account was stolen, and the contents of it were all emptied and could not be recovered. “I feel that the loss is quite large, there are both mental and actual losses, and I can’t buy it back for any amount of money...”

　　Game currency, game equipment, QQ account, WeChat official account, Douyin account...As people's daily life gradually expands to virtual space, these visible but intangible network resources are getting more and more attention. This year, as the "Civil Code" makes principled provisions on the protection of virtual property, the topic of virtual property has once again attracted attention. On July 22, the Supreme Law and the National Development and Reform Commission jointly issued the "Opinions on Providing Judicial Services and Guarantees for Accelerating the Improvement of the Socialist Market Economic System in the New Era", proposing to strengthen the protection of new rights and interests such as digital currency, network virtual property, and data , To give full play to the value leading role of judicial decisions in the protection of property rights.

　　Broad range into life

　　Virtual property has both economic value and spiritual wealth, and it has attracted increasing attention

　　"For this game equipment, I have charged a lot of money and spent a lot of energy. Now the game platform is updated, performance and attributes have changed, and the equipment is easier to obtain, which is equivalent to devaluation." Wang said that the game operator's sudden changes in equipment performance and attributes made him feel that the previous investment was "very worthless".

　　It is not uncommon for game platforms to change the sold characters, props and functions without authorization. As early as 2003, in the country's first virtual property dispute, game players discovered that dozens of their virtual equipment were somehow lost, and the court finally ordered the game operator to restore these equipment.

　　According to expert analysis, in a broad sense, virtual property has economic value, such as online game equipment, Taobao stores, digital currency, and self-media accounts, etc., which can realize online transactions; on the other hand, virtual property also has emotional value. People are on social platforms. It is a very valuable spiritual wealth to record life and insights in accounts and emails.

　　Zhou Xiaohui is the operator of a military-themed self-media account and has millions of fans on the WeChat official account and Weibo platform. "The value of this account lies in the number of fans and the influence it brings. For this reason, we have specially registered trademarks to protect our thousands of original works and avoid loss of virtual property."

　　The "Civil Code" general editor puts forward that "where the law has provisions on the protection of data and network virtual property, in accordance with the provisions", it clearly affirms the civil object status and property attributes of virtual property; the inheritance section defines inheritance in a general way, as long as The property legally acquired by natural persons belongs to inheritance, which means that network property, virtual currency, etc. can also be included.

　　"The "Civil Code" incorporates concepts such as virtual property and data into the legislative level. This is an affirmation of the emerging virtual property phenomenon in the Internet era and opens up space for future legislation and judicial practice." Professor, Associate School of Peking University Law School Long Xue Jun said.

　　Value evaluation still needs to be explored

　　How to distribute, trade and inherit virtual property still lacks standards and norms

　　On the NetEase game trading platform, a character in a mobile game is priced at 2,999 yuan; the promotion of goods on the WeChat public account, according to indicators such as the number of fans and readings, the advertising value of an article can reach hundreds of thousands of yuan...Virtual property What is the value, there is still a lack of evaluation by authoritative institutions, and most of them are negotiated and determined by both parties.

　　In December last year, the country's first WeChat public account "segmentation" case was finalized. In 2016, Zhao and other four people jointly opened a WeChat official account and registered in the name of Zhao. It was founded for one year and has accumulated revenue of more than 3 million yuan. But the four people disagree on the income distribution method, Zhao changed the account password, and the other three took Zhao to court. What kind of legal relationship is the cooperative operation of the official account? Does the official account have independent economic value? These issues became the focus of this case. In the end, the court decided based on the estimated value of the official account of 4 million yuan, and determined that Zhao would pay 850,000 yuan in discount to each of the three.

　　Some insiders pointed out that due to the lack of specific regulations in relevant laws, current network service providers generally stipulate that users have only usage rights and no ownership. In 2017, a netizen in Ningbo, Zhejiang, with the help of a game company and game players, inherited the game account of his late father, but the ownership of the account still belongs to the game company and is not allowed to be transferred or sold.

　　"The biggest controversy facing virtual property is how to understand its nature." Xue Jun said, "If you understand it from the perspective of the relationship between creditor's rights and debts, the transaction of virtual property is subject to the contract terms between the user and the platform; if it is recognized that virtual property has The characteristics of property rights are more prominent and their property attributes can be circulated."

　　"On the other hand, for online accounts, some people want to be'inherited', while others want to be'forgotten'." Said Yang Shuai, who works for an internet company in Shenzhen. "The online account contains a lot of private information. Can these be regarded as virtual property and be transferred or inherited? Are they owned by the user personally or by the network service provider? These issues still need to be explored in practice." Beijing Zhilin lawyer Said Zhao Zhanzhu, deputy director of the firm and a special researcher of the Intellectual Property Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law.

　　Improve rules and refinement measures

　　Legal departments and online platforms should follow up and introduce supporting measures to strengthen the protection of virtual property rights

　　At present, different types of virtual property protection are progressing differently. Among them, online shops, online games and other industries are relatively at the forefront.

　　Taking Taobao as an example, online stores can perform operations such as changing the subject according to relevant regulations. "In the beginning, Taobao stores could only change the main body in special circumstances such as marriage changes. In recent years, the demand and circumstances for changes in the main body of the store have been increasing. We have added a new'agreement change' function and require merchants to submit changes to the system in time Information, which helps the platform to keep abreast of business changes in a timely manner, and also helps protect the rights and interests of consumers.” Alibaba related person in charge introduced.

　　In March of this year, the China Consumers Association requested online game operators to correct unfair and unreasonable regulations that exclude or restrict consumer rights and reduce or exempt operators from liability as soon as possible.

　　In terms of personal account inheritance, due to privacy protection and other issues, experts suggest that network service providers should add "inheritance clauses" to the terms of the user agreement, and the account holder decides whether the virtual property can be inherited and the scope of inheritance. . At present, some Internet platforms have been exploring. For example, Sina Weibo stipulates that after a blogger passes away, relatives can apply to the platform for account information protection.

　　"Virtual property protection needs to be refined. Legislative and judicial organs should continue to explore the specific scope and nature of virtual property, and provide guidance for specific judicial practice." Zhao Occupation suggested.

　　For users, to protect virtual property, you must first protect account security. The WeChat team urged users not to use plug-in services or unofficial clients, not to rent or sell social accounts at will, or provide account-related information to strangers.

　　Our reporter Xu Qing Qian Yibin Li Yuanzhe Data source: China Internet Network Information Center, iiMedia Consulting, iResearch