In the dispute over the ancillary copyright, the parties involved are approaching an agreement. Originally, it was 420 million euros that Corint Media, as the collecting society of various press publishers, demanded from Google. The Arbitration Board of the German Patent and Trademark Office is now proposing EUR 5.8 million.
Corint Media announced this provisional decision in a statement. The 5.8 million euros relate to the period from June 7, 2021 to today. This covers the use of the content covered by the ancillary copyright – i.e. headlines, snippets and images that appear in the Google search. According to the collecting society, it represents around a third of the German ancillary copyrights.
Corint Media satisfied for the time being
Corint Media originally wanted the 420 million euros for the entire year 2022. However, this sum is still a long way off. Instead, the arbitration board initially proposed the sum that Google offered per year for final licensing of the Corint Media portfolio in the summary proceedings. That's 3.2 million euros. According to the collecting society, this is standard practice for preliminary decisions, and the process with Microsoft and Bing was similar.
The arbitration board's decision is essentially a proposal that both sides have to agree to. If not, the case ends up in court. In addition, the arbitration board is still running a main procedure.
Corint Media also relies on this main method in order to receive a higher sum. However, they are already satisfied with the current decision because “the arbitration board has confirmed the actual use of press content by Google,” according to the statement. According to Corint Media, Google denied this to the end and refused to pay a provisional sum.
Google itself contradicts this representation, and the search engine operator is also satisfied with the proposed sum. “It corresponds to our earlier offer of an interim payment for the press ancillary copyrights exercised by Corint,” said a spokesman, according to a report by Der Spiegel. The current amount is appropriate and comparable to what Google has negotiated individually with other publishers and publications. The group now wants to examine the proposal in detail.
Corint Media still has double-digit millions in mind
The question is whether Corint Media still has a is awarded a higher sum. The outcome of the main proceedings is open, a spokesman for the German Patent and Trademark Office told Spiegel.
Corint Media refers to comparable markets. In Australia it would be around 100 million euros that press publishers would receive. In France, the amount would be 45 million euros, which would be supplemented by at least the same amount paid by Google under the News Showcase contracts.
Corresponding agreements for Google's special news service also exist in Germany. However, the competition authorities keep an eye on them. After a complaint from the Federal Cartel Office, Google had to adapt it – but ComputerBase has still not been granted participation.