Google and French newspapers said on Thursday they had signed an agreement aimed at opening the path to digital copyright payments from the online giant after months of heated negotiations.
The accord signed with the APIG alliance of French dailies involves “neighbouring rights,” which call for payment for showing news content with Internet searches, a joint statement said.
It said the agreement sets a framework for Google to negotiate individual licence agreements with newspapers on the payments and will give papers access to its new News Showcase programme, which sees it pay publishers for a selection of enriched content.
Payments are to be calculated individually and will be based on criteria including internet viewing figures and the amount of information published.
APIG head Pierre Louette said the deal amounts to the “effective recognition of neighbouring rights for the press and the start of their remuneration by digital platforms for the use of their publications online.”
News outlets struggling with dwindling print subscriptions have long seethed at Google’s failure to give them a cut of the millions it makes from ads displayed alongside news search results.
