Private Regulation of Virtual Spaces

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Lea Katharina Kumkar
• Subject Area: Private Law
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 559278652

The monograph, entitled "Private Regulation of Virtual Spaces", which was accepted as a habilitation thesis by the TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology in July 2024, examines the possibilities and limits of non-contractual rule-making by private parties in view of the dynamically advancing digital transformation of the digital sector. The work is centred on an examination of the regulations of digital platforms with market power. While the existing legal debate on the private organisation of virtual spaces has so far focused primarily on contractual (legal) aspects, this work takes a look at the noncontractual area, which has so far been neglected in legal discourse. As a central result of this research, the author develops her own theoretical model for non-contractual rule-making on the basis of subjective rights ("Theorie der bedingten Gestattung") and examines the applicability of the model concept developed in the area of digital services.

• DFG Programme: Publication Grants