The "Law" series of articles will collect relevant information about the current game industry, and take stock and interpret it from a legal perspective.
01 A number of overseas real gold platforms and payments were investigated by the public security
According to the latest news, since the beginning of this year, there have been overseas real gold platforms and overseas payments, which have been investigated by the domestic public security, mostly due to the platform's gambling and capital return.
1. A Brazilian platform and payment in Hangzhou, case-handling agency: public security in Chongqing
2. An Indian platform in Fujian, case-handling agency: public security in a certain place in Fujian
3. An overseas payment in Shenzhen, the case-handling authority is unknown
4. An overseas payment in Wuhan, the case-handling agency is unknown.
With the tide of the Internet going overseas, domestic regulatory authorities have also paid attention to overseas products. At present, the regulatory authorities are more likely to apply domestic legal logic to understand overseas products, such as real gold products are illegal in China.
For example, there were two cases of real gold products in India last year:
1. A case of real gold in India, Sichuan
The gambling platform developed by the defendant company attracted Indian gamblers to register and recharge money to participate in gambling on the gambling platform.
2. A case of real gold in India, Zhejiang
The company was suspected of developing a gambling APP specifically for Indian mobile phone users to register and use, and was arrested 45 criminal suspects, and more than 9,000 yuan of funds involved in the case were frozen.
Noelson Comments:
At present, the criminal verdict of such cases has not been made public for the time being, and there is a great deal of controversy in the law. According to the "dual criminality principle", we believe that game software that is legal overseas should not be characterized as a crime, and the following measures can be considered for compliance:
02 The first unfair competition case involving the business model of "blind box online box drawing machine" in China
Recently, the Intermediate People's Court of Hangzhou Municipality, Zhejiang Province, concluded the case of unfair competition dispute between a company in Hangzhou and a company in Shenzhen.
The court ascertained that the defendant in this case was a third-party operator of the "Blind Box Online Box Drawing Machine" applet, and pre-sold the blind box by way of online box drawing during the publicity period of the plaintiff's blind box.
The Court held that:
1. On whether the defendant's conduct constitutes unfair competition.
The relevant behaviors of the "blind box online box drawing and pre-sale" business model are likely to undermine consumers' trust in the plaintiff's brand, and also substantially affect the platform traffic, transaction opportunities, and operating income that belong to the plaintiff, which violates the principle of good faith and generally accepted business ethics, damages consumers' right to know and choose, negatively impacts the industry ecology in which blind box operators gain competitive advantages through legal operation and innovative operation, undermines the normal competition order of the blind box industry, and constitutes unfair competition.
2. Regarding whether the "online box pre-sale" model constitutes false publicity.
Based on the fact that there was no source of new products in the market during the warm-up period, when the defendant carried out the online box drawing pre-sale, the transaction information released by the defendant was not authentic, and it did not disclose this fact to the pre-sale consumers, so its conduct constituted false commercial publicity.
Even if the defendant was able to recall enough blind box products afterwards, it should disclose its "first-to-sell" business practices to consumers in advance, so as to respect consumers' right to know and choose.
3. Regarding the compliance boundary of the sales model of "unpacking without opening bags" in second-hand blind box transactions.
The alleged impropriety does not lie in the fact that it sells second-hand blind boxes, in fact, the existence of the second-hand blind box market can provide consumers with more choices.
The impropriety of the defendant's conduct lies in the fact that it knew that the pre-sale was a second-hand blind box, but not only did it not tell the truth, but also misled the publicity to achieve its business purpose. In fact, the consumer "voluntarily" purchased the defendant's second-hand blind box without knowing the true situation of "unpacking the box without opening the bag".
It can be seen that the defendant's conduct can hardly be described as bona fide and in fact restricts the consumer's right to make their own choice.
In summary, the court of first instance ordered the defendant to immediately stop the unfair competition involved in the case and bear economic losses and reasonable expenses totaling more than 80 yuan, and the court of second instance upheld the original judgment.
Noelson Comments:
Blind box toys are popular among young consumers, but the lack of transparent information has trapped the rights and interests of consumers, and false propaganda has caused a crisis of trust.
In this regard, the State Administration for Market Regulation promulgated the Guidelines on the Code of Conduct for Blind Box Operations (Trial) on June 8, 2023, focusing on regulating the blind box market, strengthening the compliance of operators, and eliminating market chaos.
This case is the first time in the judicial field that an unfair competition judgment has been made on the model of "blind box online box drawing and pre-sale", which has played an exemplary role in the legal operation of the blind box industry and the protection of consumer rights and interests.
03 The probability of the game is suspected of being fake, and the Korean regulator launched an investigation
According to Korean media sources, before and after the implementation of South Korea's mandatory probability publicity law, there are about more than 100 items in the probability of the two versions of "Ragnarok Online" publicized, and the difference in the probability of obtaining the two versions of some items has reached 8 times (from the previous 0.8% to the current 0.1%).
Gravity officially responded through the media that this phenomenon occurred because "when it is necessary to disclose the probability of an item, we will verify it through simulation, but there are some flaws in this process." ”
As the first case after the introduction of the relevant regulations, the Korea Fair Trade Commission also solemnly responded, "The complaint has been transferred from the Seoul regional office where the complaint was filed to the headquarters of the Fair Trade Commission, and a full investigation has been initiated." We plan to investigate how much Gravity's incorrect probabilistic disclosure cost consumers and whether there was deliberate manipulation to deceive consumers in the context of this situation. ”
Noelson Comments:
Due to the mandatory requirements for probability disclosure in China, Chinese enterprises rarely have the risk of non-compliance in related fields.
However, the Gravity incident is a warning to Chinese manufacturers going overseas: in the face of increasingly stringent laws and regulations such as the game agent system implemented in South Korea, compliance management is not only the bottom line, but also a requirement to ensure long-term development.
If the negligence of local regulations incurs the intervention of South Korea or other regional regulators, or even encounters the punishment of removal from the app store, it is tantamount to a fatal blow to the overseas products.
04 Apple App Store has enabled "strong verification" for ICP filing
Recently, some developers revealed that Apple's App Store has begun to require developers to fill in the ICP filing number when launching new apps. In addition, the Apple iTC backend will automatically verify whether the "App Name" is consistent with the ICP filing.
After testing, it was found that when developers review new apps in Chinese mainland, there will be a prompt that "ICP filing number must be provided before it can be listed".
If you submit an error message, an error message "The App name does not match the record of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China" will appear in the iTC backend, and it cannot be stored and proceeded to the next step.
This means that Apple's App Store has enabled the "strong verification" mode for ICP filings, and the ICP filing number must be matched for new apps to be launched.
Noelson Comments:
In August 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued a notice on App filing, requiring entities and individuals providing Internet information services in Chinese mainland to file with relevant state departments and obtain an ICP filing number.
Considering the huge number of apps in the market, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has set aside 10 months as a transitional period for app filing, and announced that it will carry out supervision and inspection from April to June 2024, and dispose of them in accordance with the law.
Now, the transition period stipulated by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has arrived, and Apple's App Store has also begun to increase verification efforts, which may have an impact on developers' keyword optimization and vest bags in the short term.