French authority makes Google promise to “negotiate in good faith”
Google has promised to “negotiate in good faith” with press publishers and news agencies on how to compensate them for using their journalistic content. The search engine also said it would propose how to start paying within three months after negotiations started.
The proposal has been sent to the French competition authority that has become a leading force in the discussion about compensation. France was the first EU-country to introduce the union’s new copyright directive.
After failed discussions, the authority’s actions led Google to reach agreements on how to pay French publishers and French global news agency AFP.
The copyright directive says that for instance search engines should pay for commercial use of publishers’ content. Publishers and news agencies have argued that search engines have built very profitable businesses using their content without compensation.
A huge part of Google’s income is from advertising published in connection with search results based on news content.
The French anti-trust authority says it is publishing Google’s commitments for a market test with deadline to submit comments until January 31, 2022.
At the end of the market test, a hearing will be held before the Board of the Autorité de la concurrence, which will examine and decide whether the proposed commitments, possibly supplemented and amended, are likely to meet the expressed competition concerns. In this event, the Autorité may close the case and make the commitments binding.
Google’s proposed commitments:
- Google undertakes to “negotiate in good faith” with press publishers and news agencies that so request, the remuneration for any reproduction of protected content on its services
- Google undertakes to communicate the information necessary for a transparent evaluation of the proposed remuneration
- Google undertakes to make a proposal for remuneration within three months of the start of negotiations;
- In the event that the parties are unable to reach an agreement, the negotiating parties will have the option of referring the matter to an arbitration tribunal to determine the amount of remuneration. Google undertakes to pay the fees of the arbitrators and the arbitration proceedings in the first instance;
- Google undertakes to take the necessary steps to ensure that the negotiations do not affect the indexation, ranking or presentation of protected content;
- Google undertakes to take the necessary steps to ensure that the negotiations do not affect any other economic relationship that may exist between Google and the news publishers and news agencies;
- An independent trustee approved by the Autorité will ensure the implementation of the commitments made and may, if necessary, call on the services of a technical, financial or intellectual property expert;
- The commitments will apply for a period of five years.
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