Paris: The "Google" group has concluded an agreement under the "rights related to copyright" agreement in which it will pay a financial compensation for its materials used by the Google search engine, in a move that constitutes a major advance in a case that poisoned relations between French newspapers and the American giant more than two years ago.
The European Union recognized Rights Related to Copyright in March 2019, a directive designed to ensure that news publishers receive financial compensation when they broadcast their production on websites, search engines and social media platforms.
But its implementation required a difficult battle, as Internet giants, especially Google, opposed it.
The agreement was announced Thursday between Google and the Press Alliance for General News (APIG), which brings together about 300 French national, regional and local media outlets, and it replaces a previous agreement announced in January 2021.
But the latest agreement was not implemented due to a decision by the competition authority in July 2021 that ordered Google to pay a fine of 500 million euros for not negotiating “in good faith” with press publishers.
Google and APIG considered the new agreement a "historic step in the implementation" of neighboring rights.
The two sides explained that the agreement "sets the principles of 'compensation of the press' on the basis of transparent and non-discriminatory criteria."
Neither Google nor Abig wanted to disclose the amounts to be paid. But some of the daily newspapers that have already signed individual agreements with Google have given indications of the amounts they have been able to negotiate.
And "Le Monde", which has reached an agreement in this regard, announced that it will receive about one million euros annually, in an interview with its chairman, Louis Dreyfus, on the BFM Business TV station on February 1.
The director of La Depeche du Midi, Jean-Michel Bailly, estimated at “about two million euros”, the annual amount that his group is supposed to receive in its agreements with “Google” and “Facebook” also concerned with related rights (the group signed a framework agreement with Abeg in October). last October).
Other Agreements Expected
Google hopes to make further progress in this regard by signing agreements with the Association of Magazine Publishers and individual players, especially news sites for audio-visual media.
"We hope in the coming weeks to sign agreements that will allow us to provide compensation to two-thirds of the French press, in terms of audience and number of journalists," said Arnaud Meunier, director of partnerships at Google France in mid-February.
Agence France-Presse announced in November that it had signed a five-year agreement with Google on rights related to copyright, in addition to two commercial contracts also concluded for a period of five years, under which AFP will provide training courses and production of video formats for smartphones.
Google indicated that it had started negotiations with other professional associations in France, such as the National Federation of Specialized Press and the Federation of Press Agencies.
The American giant asserts that it wants to relaunch many cooperation projects with the French press, whether it is related to monetizing advertising content, subscription policy or editorial aids.(AFP)