This module addresses copyright and neighbouring right issues related to Electronic Commerce. Within the context of the internet the protected works and other subject matter in Electronic Commerce, the exploitation- and moral rights involved, the statutory limitations and exemptions and the possibilities for licensing intellectual property are examined and discussed. Domain name disputes have recently gained attention since the well chosen domain name is a key to a successful internet appearance and the popular domains are mostly taken. The interests of owners of famous trade marks often collide with the non-formalistic registration procedure where existing trade mark or name rights are not examined by the registries. Therefore, by registering and using a domain name trade marks and name rights are often infringed.
National jurisdictions follow a territorial approach relating to trade mark law.
The domain name system on the other hand by its technical characteristics has a global extension. The collision between both approaches are dealt with in this section. The advantages and disadvantages have to be considered in order to evaluate its effectiveness. To round up this section, an outlook on the progress of introducing new generic top level domains and their likely effect on the current state of the law will be given. This module aims at presenting a general overview of the Consumer protection in electronic commerce.