For breaching an agreement with news publishers to pay for their online content, the French regulatory body slammed Google with a €250 million fine. The European investigative publication, Watchdog, has accused Google of not negotiating in good faith with news publishers and violating intellectual property rights in news publishing. The fine is also based on concerns about the company’s AI service, Gemini.
Google fined big in France for breaching intellectual property rights
The Guardian expands on the topic and explains how the company violated the 2022 commitments leading to the imposed fine. In its earlier settlements, Google had agreed not to contest facts during settlement proceedings but instead suggested remedies for its wrongdoings.
France has taken a leading role in fighting for publishing rights and revenues against technology giants like Google and Facebook. The EU introduced neighboring rights copyright laws, allowing print media to demand compensation for the use of their content. France enacted the directive on publishing rights in 2019, requiring large tech platforms to negotiate with publishers seeking remuneration.
The recent penalty comes after a copyright dispute that started from complaints by major news companies in France back in 2019. However, in the recent negotiations for transparency details, there were infringements, identified by competition Watchdog despite earlier settlements and commitments from Google to do fair negotiations with news organizations.
Gemini’s training is the main reason for Google’s ensuing fine in Europe
Especially, it was noticed that Google’s AI chatbot Gemini was trained and operated without correct permission from media outlets. This led to unfair negotiation positions adopted by publishers and press agencies resulting in the levying of this fine.
In return, Google explains in a blog post how it entered into “substantial” licensing agreements with French news publishers covering hundreds of publications and paying millions of euros annually. Despite having a justifiable stance, Google has decided to settle the case and change how it negotiates in the future. The company disputed the proportionality of the fines saying that they have already addressed some of the concerns raised by regulators.
This fine demonstrates that technology firms still face hurdles when navigating through intellectual property (IP) laws. Copyright laws, especially concerning the employment of artificial intelligence (AI) systems, raise eyebrows while aggregating and distributing content.
2024-03-22 15:08:30