(2005 - 2009) des ZAR - Zentrum für Angewandte ...

1.3 Institut für Informations- und Wirtschaftsrecht (IIWR)
Under the umbrella of the Center for Applied Legal Studies operates
the Institute for Information and Economic Law (IIWR). Initially
founded as Institute for Information Law (IIR), its present name
adopted in 2008 reflects its broadened research perspective. The
Institute is mainly concerned with legal issues raised by digitization
and worldwide networking in the information society. These
technological changes pose substantial challenges to the legal order
which is still largely modeled according to the analogue world, both as
regards legal notion and the structure of legal norms. These
challenges have to be met in order to fully benefit from the potential of
the new technologies and create a socially acceptable environment
for their development, deployment and use.
In teaching, the Institute for Information and Economic Law has as its
main task to cover the 20% which the law courses comprise of course
in information management and engineering. The lectures and
seminars are also open to students from other study courses which
have law as an elective part, such as students of economics and
informatics, but also of mathematics, geo-ecology or journalism and of
the Studium generale.
In legal research, the main focus is on issues raised at the crossroads
of technology, economics and the law. If the law wants to keep its
function as an instrument to regulate conflicting interests in society, it
has to enter into a dialogue with both technology and economics, in
order to counter the dangers created by new technologies for the
adjudication of property and the communicative process. Therefore,
the focus of legal research within the Institute for Information law is on
national and international intellectual property law, contract law,
media and telecommunications law, personal and business data
protection law, as well as on the evaluation of legal information law
norms by digital means and digital documentation of the laws and
regulations in the area of information law. In general, the question is
about the role law can play with regard to the production,
dissemination, distribution and understanding of information. Within
the Institute, the law of intellectual property, in particular the law of
copyright, internet law and general issues of information law, are
covered by Prof. Dreier. Prof. Sester’s main focus of interest lies with
commercial and corporation law issues of automated communication
within enterprises, as well as with economic questions of internet
economy in general. Prof. Spiecker gen. Döhmann's main concerns
are questions of national and international regulation of
147