Google and the Agency France-Presse (AFP) announced the signing of an unprecedented European agreement on the remuneration for five years of the contents of the international press agency used by the search engine, a decisive step after 18 months of negotiations.
The total amount that the AFP will receive under the deal was not disclosed by AFP CEO Fabrice Fries and Google France CEO Sébastien Missoffe, who announced the deal to journalists.
This is the first agreement concluded by a news agency within the framework of the European directive on rights related to copyright, a law adopted in March 2019 and transposed in France the same year, at the center of several disputes between the internet and media giants.
“This is an agreement that covers the entire EU, in all AFP languages, even in countries that have not transposed the directive,” said AFP CEO Fabrice Fries, calling the agreement ” pioneer”.
The AFP produces and distributes multimedia content to its clients in six languages around the world.
“It is the culmination of a long struggle” that began during the negotiations for the European directive on related rights, Fries added. “We fight so that the agencies are fully eligible. The difference with a commercial association is that a contract of related rights has the vocation to be durable,” added the president and general director of the AFP.
“We signed this agreement to turn the page and move forward. We are here to show that actors can get along and that we have found a solution, “Sébastien Missoffe, Google’s CEO in France, told AFP reporters. Negotiations appeared to be stalled last summer.
“This allows us to open other topics,” added the French executive of the US digital giant. The related rights agreement will be completed “very soon” with “an anti-disinformation program,” the two companies said in a joint statement. The AFP will offer, among others, information verification training on several continents.
After initially being reluctant to pay French newspapers for the use of their content, Google finally signed a three-year framework agreement with part of the French press in early 2021, but in mid-July the French competition authority imposed a fine of 500 million euros (about 565 million dollars) for failing to negotiate “in good faith.”
Google appealed and is still negotiating to reach a new agreement with some French media groups.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx