Google warns on German
copyright bill
November 4, 2012 3:39 pm
By Gerrit Wiesmann in
Berlin
Germany is leading a
growing European movement to let newspaper publishers charge internet search
engines for displaying links to their articles – a move market-leader Google
warns could cause an internet news blackout.
The so-called ancillary
copyright bill – to be debated by the Bundestag for the first time at the end
of November – will give newspaper and magazine publishers the right to stop
search engines and news aggregators from linking to their web pages if Google
and its rivals refuse to pay royalties for their use.
Günter Krings, a senior
lawmaker in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU party, calls the initiative the
“little brother” of copyright law. “Just like that which protects the rights of
a songwriter or music company, ancillary copyright levels the playing field
between print publishers and search engines and aggregators,” he said.
The idea of forcing
internet sites to share some of the revenue they earn from selling ad space
alongside listings of newspaper and magazine articles is so alluring that
France is considering similar rules – and Italy could also follow.
In pushing the bill,
Germany is burnishing its reputation as a staunch defender of intellectual
property rights on the internet and a challenge to the web’s “free content”
ethos.
Gema, the German
songwriters’ rights society, has already become notorious in web circles for
its long fight with YouTube over the size of royalties that Google’s
video-streaming service should pay songwriters. A new ancillary copyright for
news could lead to a similar stand-off between print publishers and web search
engines.
YouTube users in German
regularly encounter a notice that the streaming service cannot show the
requested music clip because of a continuing dispute with Gema -and the same
thing might happen to German Google News users because Google could be forced
on cost grounds to stop posting news links and article snippets.
“The law would hit every
internet user in the country as searching for and finding information will be
severely disrupted,” Google said. “This kind of interference with the internet
is not what the system is about and is unprecedented globally.”
The initiative is
controversial even in Germany and some lawmakers from Ms Merkel’s coalition of
Christian Democrats and Free Democrats openly oppose it.
Jimmy Schulz, a Free
Democrat who runs a tech company, says print publishers profit from the readers
the search engines route their way. “This law is like asking a fine-dining
guide to pay for the privilege of listing a restaurant.” Print publishers had
“slept through” the internet revolution, he said. “I will not now back this
bill.”
There are other tech-savvy
MPs who oppose the initiative, although not enough to seriously threaten
passage of the bill. Nonetheless, opponents have the chance to push for changes
in committee. A public hearing looks set to take place in early 2013.
But publishers plan to
keep the pressure on the coalition to get measures passed for which they have
been campaigning since early 2009. “The increasing danger for a free press is
palpable,” the association of newspaper publisher said, noting that between
2000 and 2009 German newspaper revenues fell 20 per cent to €11bn.
Nonetheless, even
supporters warn the industry not to expect salvation from the new power to
demand royalties. “We’re not opening a pot of gold which will pour forth riches,”
said Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, justice minister.
When the new regime comes
into force, probably next summer, the government hopes publishers will demand
moderate royalties. It also hopes they will band together and collect royalties
on a lump-sum basis, to keep bureaucracy down.
Given all this, Mr Krings
and other lawmakers deem Google’s threats sabre-rattling. “If it were to leave
the German [news] market, it’d have to leave France next, and then maybe the
whole of Europe,” he said. “Then again, if it did block German content, it
would give us the chance to build up a domestic rival to Google.”
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