Backed by the Berlin-Brandenburg Medienboard and the German video game association G.A.M.E, the study encompassed a number of German media industries and was carried out by Berlin-based House of Research. It looked at academic papers dealing with the illegal download or streaming of copyright-protected works and the possible impact on sales.

House of Research's figures estimate that users in Germany illegally streamed or downloaded 185 million films last year and that damage as a result of piracy accounted for around ...