The Use of Copyright Protected Creative Online Content by German Consumers

The question of how copyright-protected content is used on the Internet and, particularly, which conclusions should be drawn from users’ behaviour has been the subject of intense debate for years. To what extent do Internet users download, stream or share content like music, films, series or Video games? What is the share of paid compared to free use? Do users consider their own conduct to be legal, and what are their motives for choosing potentially illegal forms of use? The research project carried out by the economic and legal departments of the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition examines these issues gathering data with a large-scale, representative quantitative Survey of German consumers and analysing it