Internetwettbewerbsrecht

Can the internet as a global market place be regulated by the state or does internet trade have to be left to its own devices, i.e. private ordering? It must be made clear that the internet ipso facto does not guarantee a regulation autonomy beyond state territory, nor is it an area of spontaneous market regulations. As a »global communications forum«, the internet is however ubiquitous, which means that the potential for conflicts can develop everywhere in internet trade. This ubiquity is in opposition to the territoriality of the law, which produces a »constitutional uncertainty« about the legal regulatory framework of commercial communication. Due to the lack of a uniform internet law, this uncertainty can only be reduced by a coherent legal framework which integrates (supra-) national market rights while also taking international private law into consideration.