PARIS, Nov 19 — Google said today that it had signed “some individual agreements” on copyright payments with French newspapers and magazines after months of wrangling over the sharing of revenues from the display of news in search results.
Signatories to the deal included top French dailies Le Monde, Le Figaro and Liberation, as well as magazines like L’Express, L’Obs and Courrier International.
In a statement, Google France chief Sebastien Missoffe said talks with other media groups were continuing, with a goal of reaching “a framework agreement by the end of the year.”
The announcement came after a Paris appeals court ruled last month that the US giant must continue to negotiate with French news publishers over a new European law on so-called “neighbouring rights” which calls for payment for showing news content with internet searches..
Struggling news outlets have long been seething at Google’s failure to give them a cut of the millions it makes from ads displayed along with news search results.
But Google had refused to comply with the digital copyright law, saying media groups already benefit by receiving millions of visits to their websites.
Financial specifics were not disclosed, but Missoffe said Google said payments would be based on criteria including daily publication volumes, monthly internet traffic, and “the publisher’s contribution to political and general information.” — AFP
