Research On The Virtual Property In Online Games And Its Civil Protection

In recent years, with the continuous expansion and extension of the Internet technology, the development speed of the Internet in China has reached an unprecedented height and great change has been brought in people's life by the Internet. Due to the increase of various services and functions of the Internet, the realistic needs of people are met and the dependence of people to the Internet is becoming stronger and stronger, which makes it an indispensible part both in work and in life. In the meanwhile, all kinds of disputes caused by the use of the Internet are increasing progressively, among which a large proportion is occupied by the disputes caused by the virtual property in online games between online game operators and players and the disputes among the players. But there is no specific legislation on the protection for the virtual property in online games in China. In reality, it is difficult to apply the present law of our country to deal with the cases concerning the virtual property in online games. Through the research and legislative suggestions on the property, the legal attribute and the rights and obligations of relevant subjects, etc. of the virtual property in online games in this thesis, the author hopes to be beneficial to the protection for the virtual property in online games.This paper is divided into five parts, the content of which is as follows:Chapter-1 is about the overview of the virtual property in online games. In this chapter, the concept, the features and the types of the virtual property in online games are separately analyzed in detail and the general attribute of the virtual property in online games is identified.Chapter-2 is about the demonstration of the legality of the virtual property in online games. In this chapter, the developing status of China's online game industry and the actual situations of the disputes of virtual property occurred in online games are firstly stated, and the necessity to confirm the virtual property in online games is discussed. Then the property of the virtual property in online games is confirmed through the analysis of property attribute of the virtual property in online games.Chapter-3 is about the differentiation and analysis of the legal attribute of the virtual property in online games. Theories of different schools about the legal attribute of the virtual property in online games are listed, including the opinions on real right, claim and intellectual property. Then the varieties of theories are reviewed and analyzed by the author and it is believed by the author that due to the special nature and features of virtual property, it shouldn't be simply classified in real right or claim or intellectual right and it's more proper to classify it in new property. There are three reasons for it: firstly, the virtual property in online games completely has the basic attributes of legal property in terms of the nature of law; secondly, the virtual property in online games can be protected as a kind of property in law; thirdly, the virtual property in online games has some attributes of real right and claim to a certain extent, but it should not be simply classified in real right or claim.Chapter-4 is about the analysis on the legal relation of the virtual property in online games. In this chapter, the rights and obligations of the relevant subjects of the virtual property in online games and the legal responsibility of the players and on-line game operators for infringing the legal relation of the virtual property in online games are analyzed in detail.Chapter-5 is about the suggestions on improving the civil protection for the virtual property in online games in China. In this chapter, the existing problems in the civil legal protection for the virtual property on the Internet in China are analyzed, and the necessity of legislating for the civil legal protection of the virtual property in online games is further demonstrated according to the enumeration and analysis of the civil legal protection for the virtual property in online games in the countries where the on-line games are developed. Besides, some proposals are put forward according to the present actual situation of legislation in China.