The Civil Law Protection Of Network Virtual Property

With the rapid development of science and technology, the internet industryhas been brought in a full swing in the global context; therefore, the widelyapplication of the internet has become an important character different from thetraditional society. Internet is "a system of computers functioning independentlyin different places, which are connected by certain communication medium andadministered by some intemet hardware and software, so as to realize thecommunications and shares of the internet resources". The widely application ofinternet has exerted a great impact on our society, changed our daily life, andprovided a new space for us——virtual space, bringing a kind of related"existence"——virtual property, and its special configuration and practical trademeans posing a challenge to the whole civil law system, traditional property lawin particular. The rapid development of network industry urgently requires adeep research on the laws concerning the internet virtual property, which isalthough a new born concept. In the discussion of concepts, it exits a few ofarguments about virtual property. Meanwhile, the profit competition betweennetwork industry operators, who are mainly suppliers, and network consumers,mostly of which are users. Those are all the focus issues of network industry,while in reality the call for the legislation of the law to protect the virtual propertyhas become even stronger, which directly or indirectly affects the trend of the law.It is of great importance to recognize the nature of the development of interneteconomy and construct a perfect operating legal mechanism for operation andadjustment. This is what my research aims at.According to the three traditional ways of thinking, including putting forwardproblems, analyzing problems and solving problems, this paper is divided intothree parts:First part is "the origin of the problem", which is analyzed in three levels.First level introduces the development of the internet and the birth anddevelopment history of "virtual property" under the internet background, throughwhich we can see the legal nature of "virtual property", as well as how we can regulate its social relations arising from it in reality, becoming a problem urgentlyneeded to be resolved in the law studies. The second level sorts out the presentresearches on "virtual property" and introduces the "different pinions" in thetheory circles at home and abroad; in the third level, based on the defaults oftraditional research thinking due to the strongest first impression of this issue inthe daily life, I put forward this paper's logic thinking and methods ofdemonstration, namely, "one center, two basic points". One center means a keyissue that we should not passively seek its legal justification of "virtual property"in the theory studies due to its object existence; by contrast, we should cautiouslyidentify, scientifically classify, and correctly deal with it. The two basic points areas follows: first point is the order of logic, in detail it is required that we shouldfirstly define the so called "virtual property", what's more, depending on thedefinition, we should deal with the classification of its extensions respectively inan application layer; the other basic point is legal philosophy, including thesystem of legal methodology and property law. Specifically speaking, followingthe thinldng of organon of law, we come back to the nature of property law fromassessment to disposal. Namely, according to the previous classification, wejudge that whether this form needs legal adjustments, and if the answer isaffirmative, we will have a further discussion about the specific pattern andwhether we should center on the protection or regulation.The second part is an "analyzing one", which is divided into two levels by aninitial analysis depending on the above "two basic points", so as to prepare forthe final part of solving this problem. The first level defines the concept of"virtual property" by the analysis of derivation and logic. Conceming about thecomplexity of the latter's combination concept, I will begin by its extension,dividing "virtual property" into three kinds: one is in the net games, one is in theplatform of intemet communication service, and one is in network spaces orspecial legal adjustment. Secondly, the thesis described the characteristics of thevirtual property, that is, it is virtual, competitive, useful, real, continual, reachable,confined by some other factors. Finally, based on the former tow steps, I definethe concept according to the format. The second level bring it back to the scopeof law, based on the analysis, using the jurisdiction as a tool to solve the problem. Specifically, I demonstrate it in tow points. First of all, generally, the law is a toolfor the social relationship adjustment, and the description of the way it fulfill itsfunctions lead to the analysis of the classification of virtual property. Secondly,back to the point, I introduce the theory of the property law in detail, because thediscussion of the property law is always the core in the study of the distributionof the virtual property.The third part offers the solutions. It is also the destination of this thesis. Thispart is the utilization of the tool. Through deeper analysis, I make the distributionof the virtual property dearer and put it into the operation of the law better. Thispart is divided into the following sections. First, the virtual property in the netgames is been dealt with. I analyze the jurisdictional relationship based on the netgames. Then adjust my object according to different types of the virtual propertyin net games. Specifically, I put the point cards, game money, game ID and thelevels of the game characters under the protection of the right of propertyownership. Among it, the point card and the game money under the real rightand the creditor's right, the game ID and the character's level are under theintellectual property, while the property in the game is not the legal definition inthe law, it can only treated as the outcome of the owners' behavior in the game,under the protection of the contract. Secondly, I deal with the virtual property inthe internet communication. I demonstrate its justifiability and put it into propertylaw as 4 types. Thirdly, the other types of virtual property are concerned. For it'ssimple, I get to the conclusion directly. The internet works, including the articles,photos, blog speeches are treated as the achievement of their authors, protectedby the copyright. QQ, e-mail box ID and their content are belong to certain socialprincipal part and therefore be protected as their interest. As for the domain name,I do not agree to name it as the virtual property and think it should be classifiedinto the intellectual property and be protected by this law accordingly. Forth,from the angle of compensation, I demonstrate the civil responsibility isapplicable in the adjustment and the protection of the virtual property, andanalyze 4 types of responsibilities, that is, compensation, property return,belongings return, repristination. Fifth, according to the characteristics ofdifferent types of property, I demonstrate specifically the especial protections of the virtual property in the internet trade, including the permission role of theestablishment of the web site for intemet trade, the obligation of quote andcooperate by the developer and the operator of the game, the perfection of thesolve system of the virtual property trade dispute.In the conclusion, I iterate the logic of the solution in the thesis, andsummarize the core point of view, that is, first of all, we should see the essencethrough the phenomenon, solve the problem in a traditional way and put it intothe protection of the modern law system. Secondly, not all the virtual property isapplicable to be put into the property law. For instance, the belongings of thecharacter in the game can only be protected by the contact, attaching to thebehavior of the players. And QQ, e-mail box ID and their content generally arebelong to certain social principal part, and be protected as their interest. Thirdly,different types of virtual property could be of different right models, such as realright, dual model of real and creditor's right, intellectual property, and so forth.Finally, after the clarification of the limitation of the thesis, I show my hope andexpectation of the study of the virtual property problem in the future.