The court upheld a decision of the competition authority requiring Google to negotiate licensing fees with press publishers.
The competition authority intervened in the negotiations: In April 2020, the French competition authority ordered Google to negotiate ‘in good faith’ the remuneration due to publishers and news agencies, under the law relating to neighbouring rights for the re-use of their protected contents. This followed Google’s announcement in September 2019, that it would stop showing snippets of articles on its news and search pages in France.
Google appealed the decision: Google engaged with press publishers following the authority’s decision, however in August 2020 negotiations broke down as Google sought judicial appeal. On 8 October 2020, the Paris Court of Appeal sided with press publishers and said that Google had a ‘quasi monopoly’ in the online search market, meaning press publishers have to appear in search results if they want an online presence. The court also said the authority had the power to force Google to negotiate.
A deal is on the cards: The day before the court’s ruling, Google announced that it is close to reaching a deal with APIG, the trade body representing some of the main French press publishers. The deal is reportedly worth more than €25m to be shared between APIG members, and would include the neighbouring rights set out in the EU Copyright Directive, as well as participation in Google’s recently launched News Showcase product.
