This Shanghai Daily article says “a court tried three men yesterday who were involved in the city’s first criminal case of copyright violations of an online game. Wang Yihui, a former manager of Shanghai Shanda Network Development Co Ltd, Tang Ming and Jin Ke, both natives of Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province, were charged with copyright violation by prosecutors. Prosecutors allege the trio earned illegal profits of more than 2 million yuan (US$250,000) by using the computer code database of Legend of Mir 2, a popular online game operated by Shanda, to produce and sell large quantities of high-level game weapons. The weapons are normally only available to high-level winners, and hadn’t been for sale. Possession of the weapons would allow less skilled players to succeed more easily. The activities of the three also circulated far more virtual weapons than the company planned, which alerted the company that something was amiss”.

3 men tried for selling online game weapons