The Protection Of Internet Virtual Property On Civil Law

Nowadays, Network Information Technology is pervasive, and we can say thatit has penetrated into every aspect of our lives. The sudden emergence of the OnlineGaming Industry makes more and more people take more attention to it. People arewilling to spend a lot of time, energy and money on weapons, equipment of onlinegames, which becomes more and more popular. The new cases of stealing QQnumbers and inheriting Taobao shop virtual property have emerged. With the rapiddevelopment of Network Information Technology, internet virtual property disputesare emerging, however, our law in this field is still lack of legal norms. So if we wantto make the Network Information Industry get sustained and healthy development,we must conduct in-depth researches on virtual property-related issues.Starting from the two basic concepts-"virtual" and "property", the thesisdefines the basic meaning of network virtual property and advocates it should bedefined both in theoretical aspect and practical aspects. The theoretical definition ofvirtual property should be that it is a binary digital information data through designor development, rising in the information age, basing on computer terminal server,existing in some particular virtual space, simulating realistic physical function.However, it is unscientific that we define it only the property in the field of OnlineGame merely. We should have a broad sense, that is, it not only includes online gameequipment and weapons, also covers other forms of property exist within the virtualspace, such as: QQ number, email, micro blogging account, Taobao shop, etc. Next,the features of virtual property are objectiveness, value, scarcity, domination orcontrollability and exclusivity. But they also have its own characteristics-dependenceand duration.Currently the legal status of virtual property right have not come to a definitiveconclusion yet.There are five disputed points that are views of negativism, property,obligatory right, intellectual property right and intangible property right. The thesissummarizes these points and comment on them. First, those who hold negative views ignore the meaning and the value of internet virtual property in contemporary society,which is not convictive. Second,the theory of property is too absolute. Internetvirtual property has some characteristics of property; however, if we characterize itas a pure property, it will lose justice. It is hard to balance relationships in internetvirtual property disputes. Third, the theory of obligatory can only offer one-sidedprotection for internet virtual property, cannot completely solve the disputesassociated it. Fourth, the theory of intellectual property right is not applicable in thereal world. It far from being able to solve the problems, whereas makes the problemseven more complicated. Fifth,the theory of intangible property right cannot beaccepted because of having no theoretical basis. In short, internet virtual property isa kind of new compound property, and it has property and debt characters. As aproperty, it expresses the value of itself, to embody the carrier of lots of socialrelationships. In fact, the goal of the law is to standardize social relationships. So,once the law is applied timely, it will provide correct orientation and effectiveprotection for internet virtual property.The goal of internet virtual property right defining is to provide it betterprotection. The thesis believes that the law comprehensive should provide protectionin four areas, namely property law, contract law, tort law and inheritance law. First,the applicable property law norms, the law should confirm the dominant feature ofinternet virtual property, and give the right to exercise his right of property rights,namely the right to return the original request, the right to request removal ofobstacles and the right to stop infringement. Second, the applicable contract lawnorms, there is a form contract between network operators and users, matching thecharacter of a service contract, a software license contract and a custody contract.Contract law should regulate the agreement from the signing of contract, theobligation of operators and users, and the effectiveness of such right sanddisclaimers to give full play to the contract value of the user agreement. Third, theapplicable tort law norms, the thesis discusses the necessity of network virtualproperty protecting in tort law in the first. And violations, constituent elements, theprinciples and the responsibility imputation methods were discussed in detail. Inaddition, mental damage claims should be included the scope of damages. Fourth, the applicable inheritance law norms, the inheritance is divided into legal inheritanceand intestacy inheritance, and then inheritance subjects should be determined,according to different attributes of virtual property, at last, the procedure ofinheritance can learn from the American experience-" inheritor applications-network service providers Review-Internet service providers to inform the accountinformation ".