This paper is about the drastically changing way intellectual property is being dealt in a digital environment and its consequences for the use of grey literature and some of the exploiting concepts. In the paper society copyright was related to a defined group of participants and the ways it was exploited economically. Grey literature seems to become more en more important in an electronic environment especially regarded as a means of sharing information in an academic setting. The building up of electronic archives of scientific information (the e-print circuit) seems to have an important legal and economic effect on two fronts: the rights of authors and the rights of publishers. At this moment the situation is in favour of strengthening the rights of authors on the other hand the sharing of information in the public domain seems to become more difficult as intellectual property is more and more valued as an economic asset. I will attempt to make an macro-economic/sociological approach in the development of intellectual property in relation to legal aspects of sharing information in this world we call cyberspace. Further on I will highlight the role of grey literature in an electronic environment as a means for securing the sharing of information in the public domain. Includes : Conference preprint, Pratt student commentary XA International