Information Law
Information law deals with legal problems arising from electronic data processing (EDP). Intangible assets like know-how, databases, and ideas gain more and more economic importance. In respect to the enormous economic importance of intangible rights like databases, know-how and ideas these require legal classification in the light of far advanced global networking through the internet. Especially in private law the issue of data ownership and its extent is often unclear. This is where the research of the department of civil law begins, which covers:
- Copyright law
- IT contract law
- E-commerce
- Intellectual Property Law
- Matters of private international law
- Competition and anti trust law
- data protection
- domain law
- liability law
- Blockchain, Bitcoin and LegalTech
Telecommunication Law
The deregulated telecommunications market, especially in the field of mobile telecommunication and internet applications, is in constant and rapid change. National and European provisions conduce the supervision and regulation of this field of law. Topics that require further research are:
- rights of way
- Consumer and data protection law in telecommunication companies
- Competition and anti trust law
- Access and deregulation
- Internet of things (IoT) and Autonomous Driving
Media Law
Media law covers a vast area which is, besides private law, strongly shaped by public law. The focus in private law matters is, in times of filesharing and cloud computing, on copyright law and legal issues of media sales. Our research includes:
- Film law
- Music law
- Press law and privacy rights
Legal Informatics
This area deals with changes due to the application of electronic data processing systems in legal science and the practice of judges, lawyers and the legal administration. We are concerned with:
- Use of interactive media in education
- Options and limits of artificial intelligence in law
- Use of legal expert systems
- Installation and maintenance of legal databases and e-publishing
- Legal matters of e-commerce
- Digital signatures and blockchain/Smart Contracts
© Prof. Dr. Thomas Hoeren, ITM™-Münster.