Many of the key principles of the common law and of intellectual property law were developed before widespread use of the internet. Many State and Territory statutes were drafted without clear territorial nexus provisions, on the reasonable view (before the internet) that it would be self evident when a particular activity took place within a particular State or Territory and who committed that act. The internet challenged many of these principles.

Even in those few areas where the law was re-written or a judge made law evolve to address the internet, the rapid and unexpected evolution of user generated content sites and Web 2.0 applications such as mash-ups, blogging and social networking, requires the law to again adapt and evolve.

This paper analyses the business and social policy underpinnings of safe harbours in law, the appropriateness of broad form protections, and the vexed distinctions between copyright and other areas of law.