Google fined French 500 million euros in copyright case

French competition watchdog Autorité de la concurrence fined Google 500 million euros. According to the authority, Google has not complied with imposed sanctions. The case revolves around compensation for publishers and news 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 over fees 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 investigation, the Autorité de la concurrence now concludes that Google failed to take the orders into account in several respects. That is why the search giant will be fined 500 million euros. The authority says that the most important injunction, 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 sanctions imposed.

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

Earlier this year, Google reached an agreement with the Alliance de la Presse d’Information Générale, or APIG. In addition, Google agreed to enter into licensing 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 variant of it, 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” that has seen the company resist paying fees for showing excerpts for years.

Google says it is disappointed with the decision. The search giant claims to have negotiated in good faith and states that it is the only company to have made agreements about compensation for neighboring rights. Google also says it is about to enter into a worldwide agreement with the AFP news agency about compensation.

The French Autorité de la concurrence has imposed multi-million dollar fines on Google in recent years. For example, the company was fined EUR 220 million for abuse of the advertising market and a fine of EUR 150 million for applying unclear conditions.