There are many disputes caused by virtual property, and there is currently no unified standard for the definition of ownership of virtual property. At the same time, due to the lagging nature of law formulation, the continuous emergence of new things and technologies on the Internet, the faster and faster replacement cycle, the conditions and details of each case are different, and other sectoral laws may also be involved, there are still difficulties in legislative issues.
A topic of "4,3 equipment worth of players retreating from the game was recycled" rushed to the hot search not long ago, once again arousing the public's attention to the protection of virtual property rights. In late March, Fu Jian, director of Henan Zejian Law Firm, said in an interview with a reporter from Science and Technology Daily that although virtual property exists in the virtual network, it itself has property rights and attributes and should be protected by law.
Virtual property disputes abound
The cause of the above incident was that a player recharged 2.3 million yuan in an online game account and put equipment props into the business house he opened in the game. Due to the fact that the game was not logged in for a while, the business house went bankrupt and all these items were confiscated by the system. The customer service of the game said: "The business bankruptcy props have been confiscated by more than one person, and the props cannot be returned or exchanged." ”
These seemingly virtual game equipment are obtained by players who recharge their real money, and how to define and protect virtual property losses has become the focus of attention from all walks of life.
In recent years, with the extensive integration of a new generation of information technology represented by digitalization, networking and intelligence with real life, the proportion of network virtual property in people's property has been increasing. Meng Bo, a lawyer at Beijing Jingshi Law Firm, believes that online virtual property is a kind of intangible assets, including self-media accounts, online stores, online game equipment, game characters, virtual currency, etc.
Virtual property, although intangible, has economic value. "Tangible property and intangible property together constitute personal property, and online virtual property as an intangible property is part of personal property." Zhou Hui, deputy director of the Network and Information Law Research Office of the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said.
Nowadays, many virtual properties have become tradable commodities, and a relatively mature trading mechanism has been explored in practice. Online game props are frequently found on major auction websites, and popular non-fungible token (NFT) digital collectibles have attracted much attention. Zhou Hui said that with the in-depth and extensive integration of the new generation of information technology represented by digitalization, networking and intelligence with real life, the value of virtual property will further increase in the proportion of people's property, and the significance to the public, society and the country will become more and more important, involving not only the new private property of citizens, but also the new commercial wealth of enterprises, and more importantly, national financial security and social stability.
However, at present, the supervision of virtual property in China is not perfect, and the infringement of players' rights and interests by some online game companies is common, and legal disputes arising from the protection of online virtual property are by no means isolated cases. In the "Top Ten Consumer Rights Protection Public Opinion Hotspots in 2023" announced by the China Consumers Association in early 2022, "online game suspension and deletion caused by virtual property infringement disputes" is prominently listed.
Industry has called for accelerated specific legislation
In fact, for the protection of online virtual property, China has relevant legal documents to provide corresponding provisions.
Article 2021 of the Civil Code, which came into effect in 127, stipulates: "Where the law has provisions on the protection of data and online virtual property, follow those provisions. "For the first time, it is clearly proposed that data and online virtual property should be protected in accordance with the law, making up for the gap in China's law on the protection of virtual property, and clarifying the property attributes of data and online virtual property, which is the first step in protecting virtual property."
Since then, the Supreme People's Court and the National Development and Reform Commission have also given guidance, emphasizing the need to "strengthen the protection of new rights and interests such as digital currency, online virtual property, and data, and give full play to the value leading role of judicial judgments in property rights protection."
However, insiders believe that the specific legal basis required for how virtual property should be identified and how to be legally protected should be left to the civil law sub-rules or a separate law to resolve.
"There are many disputes caused by virtual property, and there is currently no unified standard for the definition of ownership of virtual property. At the same time, due to the lagging nature of law formulation, the continuous emergence of new things and technologies on the Internet, the faster and faster replacement cycle, the conditions and details of each case are different, and other sectoral laws may also be involved, there are still difficulties in legislative issues. Fu Jian said.
"Virtual property has the characteristics that must rely on a specific Internet platform, and there is a contractual relationship between the virtual property right holder and the Internet platform. For example, registering a self-media account and opening an online store requires signing a contract with the platform party. Generally, the contract signed between the user and the Internet platform is a standard contract unilaterally concluded by the platform. Zhang Xiaona, a lawyer at Beijing Pushengda Law Firm, said that although the provisions of China's Civil Code on standard contracts inhibit the unreasonable operation of the dominant party to restrict and exclude the other party's main rights through standard clauses, they cannot fundamentally change the situation in which gamers are in a weak position. For example, the handling of civil disputes generally follows the evidence rule of "who claims, who produces evidence", and due to the virtual nature of cyberspace, users often face difficulties in providing evidence when defending their rights.
At the National People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and director of Beijing Jintai Law Firm, Pi Jianlong, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and director of Beijing Jintai Law Firm, called for speeding up special legislation on the protection of online virtual property. Pi Jianlong believes that accelerating the special legislation on the protection of online virtual property is not only the need to strengthen national competitiveness, but also the need to protect the rights and interests of the people, and the need to strengthen supervision. It is necessary to legislate to govern non-financial virtual property as soon as possible, build an appropriate legal framework for non-financial virtual property, clarify the legal attributes, legal status and legal remedies of online virtual property, and ensure the safe and stable development of related industries. (Sun Yue, intern reporter, Science and Technology Daily)