French Publishers and Google Join Hands

By: Zain Nabi  |   February 18th, 2013   |   Google, News

Google and publishers in France have joined hands with respect to the use of online content after signing an agreement this month. However, the association between the two parties has irked many other European publishers, who are not very much pleased with the French publishers.

 

According to the New York Times, Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt and president of France François Hollande signed the deal this month. Publishers in Europe have been demanding that Google share the revenue it earns through advertisements. They argue that the profit of the searches made to find their websites should be shared between the search engine and the publishers.

 

However, Google has long been an advocate of free content linking and does not want to pay the publishers. The situation between the publishers in Europe and Google is still very tense, but the “breakthrough” achieved by the search engine and France is seen as a role model for other publishers.

 

According to the deal signed between Google and France, the latter would set up a fund of around $80 million to help publishers develop their digital units. However, there were no talks about paying for the searches of the publishers’ websites, which has made them unhappy.

 

The European Publishers Council has severely criticised France’s decision to sign the agreement with Google. According to the NY Times, Angela Mills Wade, executive director of the publishers council, said in a statement:

 

“[The deal] does not address the continuing problem of unauthorized reuse and monetization of content, and so does not provide the online press with the financial certainty or mechanisms for legal redress which it needs to build sustainable business models and ensure its continued investment in high-quality content.”

 

The same response has been received from the German authorities who are already planning to enact a law that would make search engines pay for displaying their news articles alongside links to other web pages. France had also vowed to introduce such legislation, but the recent agreement goes to show that the French authorities will no longer pursue it.

 

On one hand, the agreement between France and Google has brought the two sides closer to each other, but on the other hand, it has increased the distance between France and its other European partners. By the looks of the things, other European countries might not follow the path chosen by France.

 

Photo: BGR