Solution Of Disputes About Online Games' Item

Online game industry is booming at an unparalleled speed with the rapid development of information technology and the increasingly standardized network industry.Virtual items in online games accumulated by the players are infringed frequently in real world.The amount and the form of disputes about virtual items in online games are increasing so fast that we cannot avoid facing those disputes.However,since there is no statute law of virtual items in online games in our country,the judicatory application is in predicament.The lag of legislation will also hinder the development of online game industry and our country's economy.This dissertation aims to discuss these problems in order to help finding out solutions of virtual items' disputes in online games in our country,do good to online game industry and the development of the country's economy.This dissertation adopted methods of literature induction and case analysis.After reading a great deal of relevant literature and research study of judicial practice,this dissertation analyzes the common types of civil disputes about virtual items in online games via the cause and typical cases,which paves a series of legal problems such as whether the theory of the third party's infringement of creditor's right can be applied in these disputes,some acts can be obtained suitably with bona fide or not,imputation,contract and legal obligations of the operator,and the way to protect virtual items when online games stop running.The point of the legal problems above is the legal attributes of virtual items are not yet clear.In order to find a theoretical basis for solving the civil disputes about virtual items in online games,this dissertation discusses and comments on the main points of virtual items' legal attributes in current theoretical circles,such as intellectual property,new property,intangible property,real right,obligatory right,and makes points that it is more appropriate to consider virtualitem in online game as a digital credit certificate,which reflects network service contractual relationship between users and operators.At last,core legal issues arising from the civil disputes about virtual items in online games had been discussed and analyzed after virtual items in online games were found as credit certificate.Conclusions,under the premise of defining the nature of virtual items in online games as a digital credit certificate in service contract,theory of the third party's infringement of creditor's right can be applied in these disputes,and the bona fide acquisition system is not suitable under the current legal framework of the country.Different doctrine of liability fixation of operators in breach of contract and tort dispute are reached after the breach of contract and act in tort disputes of the virtual goods in the network game are analysed.At the same time,some measures in making and modifying the rules of the game,maintaining the fair online game environment,and reasonable insurance in security,which should be followed by the operators,is provided.Since the lack of clear and specific statutes for operators to stop the operation of the game,this dissertation,on the basis of the previous analysis,proposed that two points should be considered when the operators are about to stop the operation of the game: shut down in proper way,perform a reasonable obligation of disclosure and provide a sufficient buffer period.Hoping that the analyze of common types and core legal issues in civil disputes of virtual items in online game,and preliminary exploration of legal obligations of online game operators will play a role on the settlement of relevant disputes.