Today’s consumption of photography and its digital equivalents has enormous effects on the way we deal with pictures, as we have already pointed out in EIKON several times before.

In this way digital technology, which is still relatively young and is marked by simple options for the transmission, manipulation and copying of intellectual property, also throws up new legal questions about licensing. On the one hand, the presence of visual contents on the Internet seems to make it difficult for legal proprietors to succeed in keeping an overview of the digital spread of works once they have been made public. On the other hand, there is a dominant impression that users increasingly lack understanding of the need to respect possible copyrights. It is precisely at this point—between the interests of artists and the public—that copyright companies can act as professional mediators. For this issue’s main focus “Copyright Law in the Digital Age”, EIKON has for the first time combined its efforts with those of a reputable Austrian institution, working in close cooperation with the Bildrecht, Gesellschaft zur Wahrnehmung visueller Rechte in Vienna, to produce three contributions: in a round of experts with Günter Schönberger and Philip M. Jakober relevant questions on topical problems in the copyright laws are discussed. Using an example from practice, a case that has attracted international attention, it is shown when

the illegal use of a work of art really exists and what steps can be taken to deal with it. This topic is rounded off with a glossary that summarizes and explains the most important terms in the context of this focus. Language: Deutsch/English