On The Legal Nature And The Protection Of Virtual Property By Civil Law

In recent years, with the popularity of the Internet in China, infringement concerning virtual property is on the increase. However, due to the lack of a clear definition to its legal nature by laws, virtual property cannot be effectively protected. Hence the urgent need for related research. From various perspectives of property law, obligation law, contract law and tort law, this paper discussed the legal nature and the protection of virtual property by civil law.Virtual property exists only in cyberspace. It’s divided into the categories of online games assets and virtual currencies, while the latter can be subdivided into traditional ones and P2P ones. Then, this paper tries to clarify the legal nature of virtual property. It points out that virtual property has three basic characteristics (rare, valuable, exclusive), the author advocates that virtual property is incorporeal property. This paper also gives some suggestions on the protection of virtual property under the civil law. It claims that the ownership of virtual property should be clearly confirmed on the contract between the users and the service providers. If the terms on the contract are not clear, the ownership should belong to the users. The service provider have obligations to keep virtual property safe. If the service provider has failed to fulfill its obligations, it shall bear tort liability. In legislation, new judicial interpretation should be issued to recognize that virtual property is legal. In judicial practice, pretrial evidence preservation and the inverted responsibility in putting to the proof should be adopted for the right of fair trial.