Google has reportedly agreed to pay German news publishers an annual fee of millions of euros to appease EU regulators. The fees would be paid to Corint Media, which represents rights for a large number of publications across Europe including CNBC Europe, Axel Springer, and Al Jazeera to name a few.
The fee each year would total around €3.2 million. Although there seems to be a disagreement on what a fair compensation amount should be. Corint asked for around €420 million for the content that Google used in its News app last year. But Google feels this number is too high and the number has now landed at the aforementioned €3.2 million.
There is also a possibility that Google could end up paying more than this amount to German news publishers each year.
Google could pay German news publishers more than €3.2 million
This all depends on what the German Patent and Trademark office decides. The DPMA could potentially rule that Google must pay more to publishers annually. Or it could settle on the agreed upon amount. This would be in addition to the single €5.8 million payment Google agreed to pay for content used from June of 2021 to March of 2023. Google also states that it has agreed to pay 470 other regional and national publications within the country. And that the amount it agreed to pay to Corint is “in-line” with those other payment amounts.
The agreements being made between Google and German news outlets is a result of Google swiping content from those publishers. And it’s an issue being faced by publishers well outside of the region. But it’s also one that can likely reach an agreement elsewhere. Managing Director of Corint Dr Christine Jury-Fischer states that this agreement in Germany shows that Google’s “dominant practices” can be beaten. But it’ll require a high level of unity from publishers.
2023-10-14 15:04:57