In the shortest space of time, the digital media revolution has shaken up distribution channels that have been around for decades. Never before has it been so easy and convenient to publish, copy, edit and distribute both one's own content and content generated by third parties – at the most rapid of speeds and beyond national borders. This state of affairs has confronted traditional territorial copyright, which relies on technically limited reproduction methods and a sharp distinction between authors, publishers and users, with new and unforeseen problems. As there has so far been a lack of high court judgements in many cases, the application of valid copyright law on the Internet is, for the most part, uncharted judicial territory.

Despite gradual improvements, legislation is unable to keep pace with technological progress. There is now a plethora of illegally created copies of copyright-protected material on the Internet – photos, films, music and books – whose digital publication history is lost in the global network cosmos, spelling massive losses in sales for the authors and affected branches of industry alike. Possible solutions such as the so-called cultural flatrate are the topic of as much controversial discussion as the question as to the extent to which users alone can be made liable for the passive consumption of content published online illegally. Future developments in this field promise to be exciting.