There is a growing trend in virtual world commercial transactions. In order to protect people’s rights in the virtual world and keep pace with innovative trading demands, it is essential for us to understand the commercial implications of virtual world economies by evaluating the effectiveness of the existing laws, practices, and policies in business, technology, intellectual property and related fields.
This book, in 11 sections, investigates the issues and opportunities associated with commercial transactions in the virtual world. In 29 detailed essays, this book analyses every facet of virtual world transactions, including the nature of virtual commercial transactions, virtual goods and services, transfer of virtual property, issues of negotiable instruments, remedies for buyers and sellers in the virtual world, consumer protection, dispute resolution and other related topics. Each of these sections both contributes to and advances the field of commercial law and related disciplines.
This book is an excellent source of reference for students, practitioners, academics, policy makers, and researchers as well as anyone with an interest in the exciting developments of commercial law in cyberspace.
Preface:
I am pleased to be invited to provide some context for Commercial Opportunities in the Virtual World, Issues and Opportunities, edited by Prof. Avnita Lakhani of the School of Law of City University of Hong Kong (CityU). In the 2012-13 academic year, all publicly funded Hong Kong universities, including CityU, underwent an historic transition from a 3-year to a 4-year undergraduate curriculum. CityU boldly used this opportunity to create a unique Discovery-enriched Curriculum (DEC). The simple goal of the DEC is for all students to have the opportunity to make a discovery/invention/creative project in their discipline. By learning what it means to create new knowledge in their field and then by communicating, curating and cultivating that knowledge to benefit society, students experiencing the DEC have the chance to explore the unknown and to take measured risks under the guidance of their staff mentors. These characteristics of the DEC should better prepare our students for the extraordinarily dynamic world they will enter as professionals.
Prof. Lakhani’s edited volume exemplifies the spirit and objectives of the DEC. Prof. Lakhani and her students have explored in detail an exciting new area of scholarship that lies at the intersection of IT law, business law and commercial law. They have examined a wide range of issues that will shape how this emerging field of virtual commercial transactions develops. By publishing their findings in this book and presenting some of this work at various international conferences, our students have also had a chance to learn how to communicate, curate, and cultivate their new-found knowledge so that others may build upon it. This blending of teaching, learning and research in which students are partners in the discovery process has broad applicability, as illustrated by the interdisciplinary nature of this topic. We hope that readers will benefit both from the content of this volume as well as from an understanding of the DEC that helped shape it. I wish all who contributed to this book continued success in exploring new frontiers of knowledge.
Arthur B. ELLIS
Provost, City University of Hong Kong
May, 2014
