Chapter 567: Chapter 185: The Problem Arises, Can You Still Count Money After Feeling Good?_4 Chapter 567: Chapter 185: The Problem Arises, Can You Still Count Money After Feeling Good?_4 Du Junfeng had been waiting in front of his computer since early, and although the game company had said they would refund the recharges of those few days, he really didn’t feel there was anything to it.
The real big spending had been in December of last year when the new server opened, and the recharges of those few days were actually substantial.
There was a moment when he even thought that the people online were sick; such a trivial gimmick had appeased everyone, and those who claimed to be players were even praising the company!
Finally, several images appeared, similar to the court’s proceedings, with the video screen showing the collegial panel, on the left were the plaintiffs Ju Haiqing and Tang Fangjing, and on the right was the representative of the defendant, the Metian Company.
Both video and audio transmission were without issue, and with the words of the Judgment Chief, “Ju Haiqing vs.
Metian Company on the infringement of virtual property rights” officially began!
It was still the same mode as offline: both parties made statements, presented evidence, and cross-examined.
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Old Tang had made amendments to the complaint, but of course, the core was the same, stating that Metian Company’s cessation of game operations infringed on Ju Haiqing’s virtual property rights.
The defense of Metian Company was much the same, their general argument being that no game can operate forever, and as a game operator, Metian Company, in accordance with legal regulations regarding the cessation of the game in question, did not constitute infringement.
Old Tang had no reaction; these were normal steps in the course of the trial, but the netizens couldn’t stand it.
All that money spent to build up a game account, and it’s just shut down like that, the compensation is to go play other games?
And they only offer a refund for the recharges of the last five days?
What about all that money charged but not yet spent?
And they still have the gall to claim that there has been no infringement?
During the trial, Old Tang and the others naturally couldn’t see the barrage of live comments; by now, they had begun presenting and cross-examining evidence.
“Evidence one, Ju Haiqing’s recharge records from August of last year until the service was discontinued, proving his cumulative recharge amount is one thousand three hundred yuan,” announced one side.
“The authenticity and objectivity of this evidence are recognized, but its relevance is not,” came the reply.
“Evidence two, screenshots of various permanent characters and permanent items in the game, proving the existence of undetermined virtual property before the game was shut down.”
“The authenticity of this evidence is recognized, but the objectivity and relevance are not.
Firstly, regarding the recharge department, apart from the remaining three thousand two hundred Virtual Coins for paid Virtual Coins, the rest of the recharge has already been consumed within the legal relationship that occurred,” Zhou Xianying said very seriously.
“This is a process of legal currency—Virtual Coin—game character and item, and as for those character and item not involving legal currency, there is no legal stipulation that they fall under virtual property, therefore they are not recognized.”
You can say a thousand, ten thousand words but if I don’t consider it virtual property, then there’s no basis for talking about property infringement.
Viewers in the live room continued to watch; the topic was novel, and having played games for so many years, it was the first time they had seen these things defined from a legal perspective.
Old Tang’s side began to present more evidence.
This time it revolved around Metian Company’s activities for the new servers opened in December of the previous year, as well as evidence of the compensation announcement.
It proved that Metian Company’s compensation at the time of the game’s shutdown was inconsistent.
It’s a simple concept: the compensation implies that if you continue to play their game, you get a return equivalent to twenty percent of your total past recharges in bound diamonds, but if you don’t continue their game, you don’t get a single hair.
This was obviously unfair.
It was Zhou Xianying’s turn to present evidence.
“Evidence one, the user agreement, proving that Metian Company is not a qualified defendant, and even if Metian is a qualified defendant, according to the user agreement, the ownership of the game account should belong to Metian Company.
Therefore, Metian Company’s cessation of the game, according to legal regulations, doesn’t infringe on anyone’s rights,” she stated.
Zhou Xianying’s side didn’t have much evidence, and it mainly revolved around the user agreement; she was trying to prove one thing—that the shutdown of the game had nothing to do with the players, and that the accounts are owned by the company itself.
It was up to the company to decide whether or not to offer compensation.
The court investigation phase ended, and the Judgment Chief announced to the camera: “Now begins the court debate, please, the plaintiff will express their opinions first.”
Old Tang began, “Firstly, I want to clarify why I believe that Ju Haiqing’s related game character and items are virtual property, because these characters and items embody Ju Haiqing’s monetary and labor contributions!”
“Although these items exist in data form in specific spaces, they have value, can be controlled by people, and are a special type of property that can be traded under certain conditions.
Therefore, they possess the nature of property interests.”
The logic is simple: yes, this is a game, but as players, we have spent money and effort on these items; these items have value, and can sometimes be traded.
So, you can’t deny the property attributes of these entities.
When we talk about trading game accounts ordinarily, is it for the account itself, or for the special characters and items on the account?
Thus, in the case of property attributes, it’s not enough for game companies to write a sentence in the agreement claiming ownership of game accounts to completely negate them.
“Therefore, Metian Company’s shutdown of ‘Flying’ has infringed upon our party’s virtual property rights,” Old Tang declared.
On the other side, Zhou Xianying began her rebuttal, “We do not recognize the plaintiff’s contention that the items in the game have property attributes.
Essentially, this should be considered a game service, and when one obtains the said items, they have already enjoyed the corresponding service.”