France's competition regulator has quite recently stated that
Google must begin paying the media groups for displaying their content. It has
ordered the tech giant to start involving in negotiations after refusing for
several months now to comply with the new digital Copyright Law of Europe. It said that
Google, within three months, needs to conduct negotiations with news agencies
and publishers in good faith corresponding to the remuneration for the re-use
of their protected contents. The agency further stated that this injunction
looks forward to the negotiations resulting effectively in a proposal for
remuneration from the tech giant that must be applied with effect from October
2019 - when France became the first nation to ratify the EU law.
The new rule on the so-called 'neighboring rights' has been put
forward to make sure that the news publishers are compensated as and when their
work is shown on search engines, websites, and social media networks. However,
while having an efficient lock on internet searches in Europe, Google refused
to comply by saying that the pictures, articles, and videos would be shown in
its search results only in scenarios where the media groups allow it to use the
same at no cost. Google also mentioned that if the media groups refused, then
only a headline and a bare link to the content would appear - which certainly
would, in turn, result in the loss of online visibility and potential ad
revenue for the publisher. Consequently, the media groups ended up filing a
complaint with the competition regulator last year in November.
The competition regulator said that Google's practices caused
immediate harm to the press sector and were most likely to constitute an abuse
of a dominant position.
The tech giant, which is yet to give an official comment on this
injunction, had earlier dismissed the claims put forward by the media groups
when the complaint was first filed but had promised to cooperate well with the
competition regulator.
In a statement delivered last year, Google said it significantly
helps the internet users to come across news content from various sources, and
the corresponding results are based on relevance instead of any trade
agreements. It stated that the law doesn't impose any fee for posting links,
and the news publishers in Europe already derive a crucial value from the eight
billion visits they get every month from the users who perform searches on
Google. Although the law does incorporate the option of free licenses, the
competition regulator ended up questioning Google's position corresponding to
not paying any remuneration for displaying the protected content. It said that
the interim measures, which require the tech giant to publish the content only
via the methods chosen by the publishers, would help in providing balanced
negotiations and ensure neutrality corresponding to how the information is
classified and indexed for the users to find. At last, it added that the
interim measures would remain in force until a decision is reached upon
concerning the merits of the case and that the tech giant needs to submit
reports every month revolving around the procedures for implementing the
injunction. For more visit: https://www.kashishipr.com/
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