PARIS —
French regulators accepted on Tuesday commitments from Google to negotiate
fairly with news organizations over copyright, ending a long-running dispute.
اضافة اعلان
Under the
agreement, the
US tech giant will provide news groups with a transparent offer
of payment within three months of receiving a copyright complaint.
The framework is
part of a process to enforce a 2019 EU law on “neighboring rights” that sought
to crack down on internet platforms using snippets of media content without
paying.
Organizations
representing French magazines and newspapers — as well as Agence France-Presse
— lodged the case with the regulator three years ago.
France’s
arrangements could now be followed across the rest of the 27-nation bloc.
Google had fought
hard against the idea of paying for content and was fined 500 million euros
($530 million) last year for failing to negotiate in good faith.
But the authority
said on Tuesday that Google had dropped an appeal against the fine and its
commitments to negotiate fairly were “likely to put an end to the competition
concerns”.
The framework is
in place for the next five years and can be renewed if the French regulator
sees fit.
Competition
authority president Benoit Coeure told a press conference that France had
gained more concessions on compliance from Google than most other countries and
Tuesday’s decision “will feed the European debate”.
Google France’s
managing director
Sebastien Missoffe said the deal validated agreements it had
already made with French firms.
“This is a
historic decision that sets a sustainable framework for the remuneration of
publishers and news agencies, and journalists, under French law,” said
Missoffe.
Google said some
150 publications in France had already signed remuneration contracts — they
include AFP and newspapers like Le Monde.
The firm said
some 650 companies across Europe had also made deals.
However, it may
now be possible for those companies to scrap their agreements and try to
renegotiate better terms under the new framework.
Google’s
licensing of news content is already regulated in Australia and British
lawmakers are also looking into the issue.
Read more Technology
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
