I propose, in this paper, to examine the latest developments in copyright law which affect the provision of networked services. The recently concluded treaties at the WIPO Diplomatic Conference held in Geneva (December 1996) update the Berne Convention to accommodate the proliferation of digital technology and works, and their on‐line dissemination. For example, the Copyright Treaty contains, inter alia, an expanded communication right and a prohibition of acts which amount to circumventing technical protection systems. These and other provisions of the treaty that are relevant to the provision of networked services are discussed. The paper also addresses an issue most relevant to networked services, which was omitted at a late stage from the Treaty—temporary reproductions. In terms of content regulation and copyright, the paper first discusses the EC Database Directive. It is anticipated that this Directive will, in future, play a pivotal role in the governance of collections of material in a networked environment. This exposition is timely for, at the time of writing, the UK Copyright Directorate has just issued a consultation paper and draft regulations implementing the directive. These provisions will also be scrutinized. Second, content regulation is also discussed in relation to the governance of multimedia products which are disseminated over a network. Whilst recognising the unmistakable influence and intervention of the Copyright Treaty and Database initiatives, this paper also carries a traditional analysis under the existing provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA), and prescribes a three‐step ‘dissection, identification and classification’ approach to cope with new technologies in the digital age. The paper concludes with a study of the possible liability (both as to primary and secondary copyright infringement) of service providers in respect of copyright infringing copies which are made available over a network. From this material the author hopes to make an informed and pragmatic contribution to the conference.