Case Description

Xiao Zhang and Xiao Li are a couple. After marriage, they live sold goods on the Tiktok platform. Their business is very popular. Their account has more than 2 million fans and their annual income can reach several million. Unexpectedly, as economic conditions became better and better, there were problems with the couple's relationship. Thereafter, the two people filed a lawsuit for divorce in the court. During the property division process, the ownership of the live streaming account between the two people is at a stalemate. Xiao Zhang said that the account was registered with his mobile phone number and real name authentication, and of course it should belong to him. Moreover, the account is only a string of characters, and has no practical value. However, Xiaoli believes that there are a large number of customer groups in the account, which can bring significant economic benefits. Moreover, he has also invested a lot of effort in account operation, so he advocates requiring segmentation.

Lawyer Analysis

1、 Whether the account belongs to property

Article 127 of the Civil Code stipulates that if the law provides for the protection of data and network virtual property, its provisions shall prevail. It can be seen that our country protects the network virtual property. However, due to the complexity of the Internet, there are no further regulations on what constitutes network virtual property in relevant documents. In practice, most cases are analyzed by courts based on specific cases. In the trial of disputes arising from online accounts, courts generally believe that accounts have property attributes and should belong to a type of virtual network property. Because the account can meet the needs of users, can be controlled by users, and has use value. In addition to the characters used during registration, an account also includes the added value generated by the user's use, promotion, maintenance, and operation of the account, such as account level, fan count, and traffic, which can bring economic benefits. Therefore, the account should belong to property.

2、 How to determine the value of an account

Network accounts are unique because the initial account is registered for free, and the account itself does not have a specific price. Its value is based on the user's operation and maintenance, resulting in an increase in fans and influence. "The operation status of an account is not fixed, and it will constantly change as users maintain the account. Users may only benefit from investing their energy in operating the account. Once the account is closed or not maintained continuously, the account may also be worthless, making it difficult to determine its value.". In practice, courts also have different precedents. Some courts determine a certain benchmark date through professional evaluation institutions, combining the course of account operation and development, and then evaluate the account value. Some courts have also tried to use the "bidding" method to determine the account value in divorce cases. There are also courts that believe that the account status is changing at any time, and that the account has not been converted into actual value without actual transfer, so they reject the claim of the parties regarding the account value. The Beijing court has introduced a "technical investigator" system, which allows technical investigators to assist in handling cases involving the Internet. The technical investigators can verify and determine relevant data on the server, and provide suggestions on value.

3、 Handling of Account Numbers in Divorce Cases

In practice, in divorce cases, the judge of account segmentation often adheres to the concept of who is responsible for the operation of the account, and the operator continues to hold the account. However, if the husband and wife jointly operate an account, the judge often follows the principle of mediation and the husband and wife negotiate to handle it. One party obtains ownership of the account, and the other party obtains corresponding compensation. If the negotiation fails, the court tends to order that the account number be owned by the registered party, and that the party obtaining the account number compensate the other party.

It should be noted that, in addition to the segmentation of the account itself, the virtual gifts in the account, the amount in the account, and other valuable virtual property should also be divided as the joint property of the husband and wife during the divorce.