Exclusive: Google’s deal with French publishers is shelved, awaiting antitrust rulings

Matthew Rothman

PARIS (Reuters)-Alphabet (NASDAQ:)’s Google has frozen a three-year deal with some French publishers because it is awaiting an antitrust ruling, which may be for Europe The copyright negotiations for online news content set the tone, two people familiar with the matter said.

According to documents previously seen by Google, according to the framework agreement signed by Google and Alliance de la presse d’information generale (APIG), a lobbying group representing most major French publishers, the American group agreed to publish to 121 publishers in January Payment of 76 million U.S. dollars. Reuters.

This is one of the most high-profile transactions in the world under Google’s “News Show” program, which compensates for news snippets used in search results, and is the first such transaction to be sealed in Europe.

However, the source said that no APIG member has signed a separate license agreement with Google since then. They said that the negotiations had actually been frozen before the outcome of the antitrust ruling.

Only a few publications, such as Le Monde, Figaro, and Liberation, had individually concluded individual deals before the framework agreement.

Google said in a statement that it has met with publishers several times as part of the copyright deal negotiations.

“We are still working with publishers, APIG and the French competition authority on our agreement to finalize and sign more deals,” it added. APIG did not immediately comment.

The source said that it is not clear whether the framework agreement will be cancelled due to the upcoming anti-monopoly ruling by France, which is expected to be made in the next few weeks.