German Agency Wants To Collect 420M Euros From Google

A copyright collecting society wants Google to pay media companies 420 million euros ($487 million) for 2022 for the use of press content in Germany, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported.

Photo Insert: Inside the Google office in Berlin

The license fee is demanded for the use of headlines, short article excerpts, and thumbnails, the collecting society Corint Media announced in Berlin on Friday. The demand relates specifically to around 200 digital press publications, for example from publishing houses, for which the collecting society, as a mandated institution, administers the rights.

According to Corint Media, the relevant revenues of Google in Germany were used as a benchmark for the calculations. In response to a dpa inquiry, the US company Google stated that it abides by the law and is guided by facts, not baseless claims.

Corint ignores the fact that Google creates significant added value for publishers and does not generate significant revenue from news content, it argued but added that it is in talks with German publishers.

This year, copyright law in Germany was amended to reflect the fact that the internet has become increasingly important for copyrighted content. The background to this is an EU directive that has been implemented in the 16 German federal states.

The large complex of copyright law also includes a new ancillary copyright for press publishers and journalists in Germany. The whole thing is intended to ensure that authors and media houses are taken into account financially when external internet platforms incorporate their press content.

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