According to news reports, Google and French news publishers failed to reach an agreement on compensation for the use of news content under the new Publishers’ Right adopted by the European Union last year. France is the first EU member country to have transposed the Publishers’ Right in national law. Following Google’s refusal to negotiate with the French publishers in late-2019, the French competition authority handed down an interim decision in April requiring Google to engage in good-faith negotiations and to reach a deal on compensation with the news publishers within three months. Google has appealed the interim decision, and a ruling on the appeal is expected in September. An organization of French publishers reportedly filed another complaint with the competition authority following the failure to reach a deal, claiming that Google had failed to negotiate in good faith. Read more about the situation here (subscription required).
Members of the News/Media Alliance staff have contributed to this post.
