Google is being forced to pay millions for illegally linking to French owned newspapers.
February 3, 2013- Google, Inc., (GOOG) the Internet search giant, agreed on Friday to spend EUR60million (eighty two million dollars in United States currency) to help settle a dispute with French-owned-and-operated newspapers and magazines over a hotly-contested legal issue.
At issue was the question of whether or not Google, Inc. should be paying the newspaper and magazine companies for the right to link to their published stories on the Internet.
After three months of very intense, and sometimes contentious, negotiations, the search giant agreed to finance a dedicated fund that will help the media companies to successfully navigate a transition to the Internet – an important step for these companies – at a time when print advertising is rapidly moving online.
As part of the agreement, publishers of the French newspapers and magazines have agreed to drop their demands that Google pay for every click on their stories.
The agreement is expected to help the French companies restore their advertising revenues which had been dropping in recent years.
Google, Inc. is not completely free of legal concerns in Europe. It is still fighting over the very same issue with publishing companies in Germany.
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