Google settles copyright dispute in France

Google has pledged to resolve a French copyright dispute over online content, the country’s antitrust authority said on Tuesday, in a case that comes at a time when big tech companies are increasingly being pressured to share more of their income with the media.

Google also dropped its appeal against a €500 million fine, the official said. The fine was paid last year.

The ruling ends the official’s investigation into the company, which has agreed to talk to news outlets and other outlets about paying them for using news on its platform.

Google will commit to a compensation proposal within three months of the start of negotiations, and if no agreement is found, the matter will be resolved by a court.

The US company will also ensure that the negotiations do not impact the way news is presented on its search pages.

“The authority believes that the commitments made by Google have the characteristics of dealing with competition concerns,” the French Competition Authority said in its decision.

The head of the antitrust authority, Benoit Coeure, said the decision will be closely scrutinized by other European countries.

He concluded a three-year case sparked by complaints from some of France’s biggest news organizations, including AFP.

News publishers argued that Google’s increase in online ad sales was sustained by exploiting snippets of its online news content, depriving them of a potential revenue stream at a time of declining print sales.

AFP and several major news organizations, including newspapers Le Monde, Le Figaro and Liberation, have announced separate agreements with Google that are expected to cover this copyright law. The terms of the agreements were not disclosed.