Christian Sommer has been promoted to Warner Bros' director ofanti-piracy operations for German-speaking territories.

Based in Hamburg, Sommer reports to senior vice president ofEuropean anti-piracy operations Jodi Benaim. He will continue to work closelywith colleagues across Warner Bros' units providing anti-piracy relatedstrategies in support of new business models.

These include online releasing through such services as In2Movies,the joint venture between the Warner Bros Home Entertainment Group and arvatomobile for digital movie sell-through.

'Christian's skill and experience have been valuable tools inour continuing efforts to disrupt and restrict piracy of Warner Bros' featureand television assets within these very important international markets,'senior vice president of worldwide anti-piracy operations Darcy Antonellissaid.

'Christian's knowledge of the local piracy landscape and hisstrong relationships with local anti-piracy organisations and tradeorganisations has allowed us to enact a more proactive strategy.'

Sommer joined Warner Bros in 2004 as manager of anti-piracyoperations for German-speaking territories.

Prior to that he worked as a legal counsel for the Hamburg MediaSchool, and before that he worked for AOL/TimeWarner's Germany office as amember of the public policy and government relations team.