Google faces a French fine of 500 million euros in copyright case

The French competition watchdog Autorité de la concurrence has fined Google 500 million euros. According to the authority, Google has not complied with imposed sanctions. The case revolves around fees for publishers and press agencies.

Last year, the Autorité de la concurrence issued seven injunctions against Google, ordering the search giant to negotiate “in good faith” with publishers and news agencies about compensation for including snippets of their articles and photos in search results.

The watchdog issued those orders after Google unilaterally decided it would no longer show excerpts unless publishers gave permission and did not have to pay a fee. According to the authority, Google abused its dominant position.

After research concludes the Autorité de la concurrence now that Google failed to comply with the orders in several respects. That is why the search giant is fined 500 million euros. The authority says that the most important order, to negotiate in good faith, has not been complied with. In addition to the fine of 500 million euros, the authority imposes a penalty of 300,000 euros per day that Google does not comply with the imposed sanctions.

Google has negotiated with publishers and news agencies, but would have pushed for a new global partnership: Publisher Curated News and the associated service Showcase. Google refused to discuss certain fees and limited negotiations by excluding certain news agencies and publishers, according to the watchdog.

Start this year Google reached an agreement with the Alliance de la Presse d’Information Générale, or APIG. In doing so, Google agreed to enter into license agreements with press publications and to include news in the Google News Showcase. It includes more content than just snippets. The authority is critical of Google’s Showcase service, with a paid version of which Google can actually generate more income from content from news agencies and publishers.

According to the watchdog, Google’s behavior is the result of a “considered, comprehensive and systematic strategy,” with which the company has resisted paying fees for displaying excerpts for years.

Google says it is disappointed with the decision. The search giant says it has negotiated in good faith and states that it is the only company that has made agreements about compensation for neighboring rights. Google also says it is about to reach a global agreement with news agency AFP about fees.

The French Autorité de la concurrence has imposed several million fines on Google in recent years. For example, the company was fined 220 million euros for abusing the advertising market and a fine of 150 million euros for using unclear conditions.