The tech giant Google has entered into a landmark agreement with a number of German media organisations to pay for the use of their content online. The agreement is the first of its kind with publishers in Germany after the country enacted neighbouring rights which were developed from an EU copyright directive, which have been under fire for multiple disputes between internet giants and the media over payment for the use of online news and other content.
German newspapers Zeit, Handelsblatt and Tagesspiegel, as well as weekly magazines such as Spiegel, Wirtschafts Woche and Manager Magazin, among others, are party to the deal with Google. The tech giant in a blog spot said that the copyright agreement for them and the partners represent a milestone in strengthening successful partnerships, adding that it was pursuing discussions with other publishers.
Details about the size of the deal were not given.
Many Global tech giants, mostly American, are running several disputes with Brussels and EU member states over taxation, abuse of their dominant market power, privacy issues and making money from journalistic content without sharing the revenue.
Intending to tackle the issue, the EU directive created the form of copyright named neighbouring rights that would permit media outlets to demand compensation for use of their content. German lawmakers implemented the directive in the country in June and the agreement follows similar deals in other EU countries and with other tech giants.
Google has agreed to pay leading global news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) for the use of its content, its first deal following a fine from the French regulator over its approach to negotiating compensation for news organizations.
Earlier this year, Google has agreed to pay $US76 million ($98 million) over three years to a group of 121 French news publishers to end a more than year-long copyright row.
Australia has passed a law mandating major tech giants like Google, Facebook to pay media houses for the news content that they produce. Seven West Media became the first major media group in Australia to sign a licensing deal with Google, under which the latter would pay a lump sum amount for the inclusion of news from the outlet on its search pages.
