E-Books im Urheberrecht: Kollision von Buchkultur und digitaler Wissensgesellschaft

Book culture always has been a driving force for the development of copyright law. Therefore, it is not surprising that there is a strong consideration of books as cultural assets not only in competition law and the law of taxation but also in copyright law. A current analysis reveals that the digital format of literature has a significant impact on the coordination of authors’, readers’ and intermediaries’ interests that is intended by copyright law. Next to the collective rights management and despite adjustments by the German legislature, there are still legal gaps within current German copyright law that lead to indirect discrimination between books in a digital or non-digital format. Once again, by developing alongside the digital society, the book culture may sensitize for a modern copyright law.