The South Korean Supreme Court.

JAN. 10, 2010 • The South Korean Supreme Court handed down a decision acquitting two gamers who had been indicted for illegally selling digital credits, called Aden, from the online MMO Lineage,. The two would sell 1 million Aden for 8,000 won, and earned 20 million won ($17,367) as a result of the sales.  Yet the court ruled the law they were accused of violating was intended for cases of exchanging real money for gambling credits, and did not apply to the gamers. It is estimated that 830 billion ($722,000) won was exchanged for game currency in 2006, according to the Korea Game Development & Promotion Institute. By 2008 the estimated exchange may have topped 1 trillion won ($871.000).

Impact: In the DFC Intelligence report Virtual Property and Real Money Trade: A Business and Legal Survey, we looked at the complex issues that are raised as consumers look to exchange valuable digital products (items, characters, currency, real estate) for real world money.  This is a very complex area and even in established legal areas every situation is different.  Furthermore, it is an international phenomenon with cross regulatory issues.  The South Korea case shows this.  The court was debating over the meaning over its own laws.  However, for a company working in a global environment the laws and applications of those laws will be different for every jurisdiction.