ABSTRACT

This chapter examines in detail which liability problems arise in such one- and multi-level networks. It focuses on constellations in which both the pool of companies as well as the Virtual Enterprise consist of bilateral contracts, since these are the cases in which legally difficult network effects occur. The chapter suggests a liability model which rejects the first position as unsustainable fiction, but takes up the positive aspects of the second and third positions and integrates them in a consistent legal institution. The difference between one-level and multi-level virtual cooperations is already legally important when an individual Virtual Enterprise is founded, but also when a new member accesses the network. The legal situation is more difficult if the conflicts arise between those participants of the intended Virtual Enterprise who are not connected by a bilateral contract. Virtual Enterprises as a successful cooperative form of the future cannot be completely comprised under the scope of classic contract law and company law.