Google will pay German publishers 3.2 million euros per year for news

Google has promised umbrella organization Corint Media that it will pay 3.2 million euros per year for sharing their articles. The organization provisionally agrees to the offer, although it had hoped for a higher amount.

The annual amount applies until the arbitration committee of the Deutsche Patent- und Markenamt comes up with a final amount, writes the Frankfurter Allgemeine. “The payments to Corint Media are in line with what we have already agreed with 470 regional and national news platforms in Germany,” Google writes in its own statement. The company points to existing licensing agreements with Der Spiegel, Die Zeit and FAZ for the use of headlines, excerpts and thumbnails. Corint Media represents the interests of Sat.1, ProSieben, RTL, Axel Springer and CNBC, among others.

The umbrella organization had initially demanded 420 million euros for the use of news articles in 2022. That amount is based on Google’s alleged advertising revenue in Germany, which would amount to 11 billion euros. Corint Media had hoped that the arbitration committee’s decision would lead to a “significant increase in the compensation to be paid by Google.” Still, it agrees with the amount for now.

Previously, the DPMA committee had proposed that Google pay a one-off amount of 5.8 million to Corint Media. Both parties agreed to that amount, which is intended for the period from June 7, 2021 to March 31, 2023. That is the period in which the new European copyright directive came into effect. This establishes an exclusive right for publishers that is in addition to existing copyrights. Only after a license can companies such as Google take over this content or parts of it. Various European publishers and news platforms have now sat down with Google and concluded agreements, including the French news agency AFP.