: Gamer wins back virtual booty in court battle

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Denise Caruso <denise () caruso com>
Date: Thu, 08 Jan 2004 06:21:30 
To:farber () dsl cis upenn edu
Subject: Fwd: Gamer wins back virtual booty in court battle

Dear Dave, 

 
I thought this might be of interest to IP'ers. 

 
Denise 

 
> http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994510 

 
A court in China has ordered an online computer games company to return virtual belongings to a player whose account 
was hacked and looted.
 
 The Chaoyang District People's Court in Beijing ruled last Thursday that the company must return the player's virtual 
stash because it had allowed the theft to take place in the first place.
 
 Li Hongchen, 24, spent two years and more than 10,000 yuan ($1,210), amassing a cache of virtual money and weapons in 
the online game Hongyue, or Red Moon.
 
 In February, however, Hongchen found his belongings had been pilfered by a hacker who gained access through the game's 
central servers. The software firm behind the game, Beijing Arctic Ice Technology Development, responded that his 
possessions had no real world value and represented only piles of data. Hongchen took the company to court requesting 
10,000 yuan in compensation.
 
 I exchanged the equipment with my labour, time, wisdom and money, and of course they are my belongings, Hongchen told 
the Chinese news site Xinhuanet. 

 
[snip] 

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