With the development of the Internet, WeChat has become an indispensable social tool for daily communication and a regular office tool. Many companies have equipped their employees with work WeChat accounts to add WeChat friends, expand, save, and maintain customers, transmit business information, and increase market trading opportunities. Recently, the Guangzhou Internet Court heard a dispute case involving a resigned employee competing for a WeChat account with the company. A company in Guangzhou is engaged in the manufacturing of printing specialized equipment. On September 18, 2017, Liu joined the company as a salesperson in the sales department. On August 15, 2017, a company in Guangzhou registered a WeChat account related to the case using the mobile phone number registered by current employee Yuan, and provided it to former employee Xu and current manager Zhang for use. Starting from November 22, 2017, the WeChat account involved in the case was used by Liu and subjected to real name authentication, nicknamed "Guangzhou Company Liu". In May 2021, Liu privately renamed the WeChat account involved to "tt001xy" and changed the WeChat nickname to "Liu". After discovering that Liu had changed his WeChat account and nickname without permission, a company in Guangzhou issued a notice to him on October 12, 2021, requesting him to stop using the WeChat account involved in the case, revoke the real name authentication of the WeChat account, and cooperate with the company to rebind the WeChat account to the designated mobile phone number. Liu refused. On October 20, 2021, a company in Guangzhou issued a notice of termination of the labor contract to Liu, stating that Liu had seriously violated the company's rules and regulations. The company notified him to terminate the labor contract and demanded that he return his work phone, phone card, and WeChat account. A company in Guangzhou believes that Liu has infringed on his rights to use the WeChat account involved in the case. Therefore, the company sued and requested the court to order Liu to return the WeChat account "tt001xy", immediately stop using the WeChat account, lift the real name authentication of the WeChat account, and cooperate in re binding to the designated mobile phone number. Liu argued that the WeChat account was delivered to him by a company in Guangzhou after he joined the company. He underwent real name authentication, bound a bank card, and added relatives and friends, including privacy information; The customer information in WeChat is also the result of their efforts. A company in Guangzhou did not sign an agreement clearly stating that the WeChat account belongs to the company and needs to be returned after resignation. The claim for return by a company in Guangzhou lacks factual and legal basis. After the trial, the court held that whether a company in Guangzhou enjoys the property rights and interests of the WeChat account involved in the case should be comprehensively judged based on the origin, registration purpose, functional use, and objective use of the WeChat account. The WeChat account involved in the case was registered by a third party, Yuan, based on professional behavior and arranged by a company in Guangzhou, mainly for work purposes. A company in Guangzhou has the right to use the WeChat account for the work involved in the case, as well as the property rights and interests enjoyed by using the WeChat account for commercial activities. The WeChat account involved in the case was provided by a company in Guangzhou after Liu joined the company, which can be regarded as providing necessary "office tools" to him. Liu has terminated his employment relationship with a company in Guangzhou, and his continued use of the WeChat account involved in the case is no longer legitimate. Liu used a WeChat account outside of his work scope
Edit：Zhou Shu Responsible editor：Jia Jia
Source：rmfyb.chinacourt.org
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