Some novel cyber jurisprudence in China
What will a Moaist-cum-capitalist court system make of property rights in cyberspace? From the unlinkable South China Morning Post, so quoted liberally:
Online game player sues for loss of virtual assets
...23-year-old [Li Hongcheng] is suing internet game provider Arctic Ice Technology in Chaoyang Court, Beijing, claiming the company infringed on his private assets. It is the first lawsuit of its kind to be filed on the mainland.
In February last year, Mr Li discovered that all the weapons he had amassed while playing the game Red Moon had been stolen by another player. He said the loss of favourite weapons, including helmets, a war gown and two boxes of poison left him depressed, since they had incredible value in the game's virtual world.
Mr Li said his weapons had cost him thousands of hours and more than 10,000 yuan (HK$9,400) to acquire over two years. [About US$1,250 - no small sum on the mainland. - ed.]
Arctic Ice said the weapons were nothing more than data. The court case has already gone through two hearings and results should be announced next month.
Zhu Shouquan, attorney and director of the Beijing Lixing law firm, said: "Web-based virtual assets are quite different from what our laws cover - they mainly refer to disputes over money, capital or fixed assets.
"But since gamers invest a lot of time and money in [acquiring virtual property], they should have legal rights over these things on the internet."
Virtual assets fall in a legal grey area. "If game companies wrote guarantees in their service contracts, cases could be tried based on the agreement," said Mr Zhu.
(Hat tip to The Hobbits)