Google Agrees to Pay German Publishers €3.2 Million Annually: DPMA Verdict
Google commits to a substantial annual payment to German publishers while awaiting the DPMA decision. Learn about this pivotal development in content compensation.
Google has entered into an agreement with Corint Media, an umbrella organization representing prominent German and international publishers including Sat.1, ProSieben, RTL, Axel Springer, and CNBC. Under this agreement, Google will pay German publishers an annual sum of 3.2 million euros (equivalent to $3.38 million) for the publication of news content. This arrangement is provisional, pending a decision from the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA), as confirmed by both parties in separate statements on Thursday.
Google, the American search engine giant, emphasized that the payments to Corint Media are consistent with existing agreements it has made with 470 regional and national publications in Germany. These agreements cover the use of headlines, excerpts, and thumbnails and include reputable publications like Spiegel, Zeit, and FAZ.
Initially, Corint Media sought a payment of 420 million euros for the use of news content in 2022. The organization expressed hope that the forthcoming DPMA arbitration board decision would result in a substantial increase in the compensation to be paid by Google.
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It is worth noting that both parties had previously settled on a one-time payment of 5.8 million euros by Google to cover the period since the introduction of new press ancillary copyright legislation in 2021.
Christine Jury-Fischer, the Managing Director of Corint, emphasized the necessity of legal recourse, asserting that Google, being quasi-monopolistic, dictates prices. In her view, pursuing legal avenues is essential to arriving at a fair and just remuneration for the use of content.
This agreement and the pending DPMA decision hold significant implications for the future of content remuneration in the digital landscape, particularly within the German publishing industry. The outcome of this case is anticipated with great interest by industry stakeholders and legal experts alike.
