French press agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) has welcomed a decision from the Paris court of appeal confirming that Google has an obligation to negotiate remuneration with news publishers. The dispute centres on "neighbouring right" remuneration, which Google has been asked to pay for the re-use of protected content on its news and search pages.
The court case reviewed an appeal filed by Google against a ruling issued by France’s competition authority in April, which had been triggered by a complaint from press trade unions and AFP. Google was accused of disregarding legislation transposing the latest EU copyright directive into French law.
Commenting on the verdict, AFP said that the court has rejected Google's argument that traffic generated on publisher' websites constitutes sufficient payment, while also confirming the right of news agencies to negotiate payment for journalistic production directly with Google.
Before the ruling was made public, Google had announced that it was making good progress in its ongoing negotiations with French press industry association APIG (Alliance de la Presse d'Information Generale), saying that an agreement was within reach. As part of these talks, the company has also been discussing the role of its recently unveiled ‘News Showcase’ initiative.
