Dr. Rudolf W. Strohmeier, Head of Cabinet Office for EU commissioner Viviane Reding, said that while pirated copies are considered “stolen” in legal terms, politics should accept that the broader culture has moved beyond such a simple delineation. Dr. Peter von Ondarza, Managing Director of CLA (Content Licensing Agency), described the difficulties he experienced when starting up a video-on-demand business, contrasting it with the ease of setting up a comparable DVD rental business.

Dr. Silke Springensguth, of DuMont Net, said that publishing houses must accept that users are not willing to pay for online news, forcing news outlets to search for business opportunities via customisation, localisation, or through new platforms like e-readers. Johnny Haeusler, of the Spreeblick Verlag, argued that traditional publishing houses have fallen behind allowing start-ups to capture their business, for instance with classified ad listings.