2 THE ITALIAN LAW JOURNAL NO. 1 (2016) Uber and the Sharing Economy by Alessio Di Amato Sharing economy is an economy system in which assets or services are shared between private individuals, either for free or for a fee, typically by means of the internet. It consists of two different business models. The first business model is the offering of goods or services by businesses through internet and/or mobile apps. In the second business model, business entities create a web platform where owners of goods (so called produsers) meet and conclude sharing agreements with people who want to share such goods (so called prosumers). In the latter business model produsers, with the help of business entities that organize web platforms, are competing with businesses. Such situation, which describes Uber’s activity, originates doubts and legal disputes – like the one decided by the courts of Milan on spring-summer 2015 – about applicable rules to the economic relations existing among produsers, prosumers and businesses.
