Google is to pay the collecting society Corint Media provisionally 5.8 million euros for the use of press products. This emerges from a decision by the arbitration board of the German Patent and Trademark Office, which was published by the collecting society on Friday. The payment relates to the period since June 7, 2021.
The sum is a far cry from the collecting society’s original claim. Corint Media had demanded a payment of 420 million euros from Google as appropriate compensation. Google, in turn, had offered a payment of 3.2 million euros per year for the repertoire of Corint Media, which combines around a third of the German press ancillary copyrights.
Google considers payment appropriate
Google welcomed the arbitration board’s proposal. “It corresponds to our earlier offer of an interim payment for the press ancillary copyrights held by Corint,” said a spokesman. The annual amount of 3.2 million euros until March 2023 is within the scope of what Google has already agreed with more than 400 regional and national publications in Germany. “The proposal is contrary to Corint’s excessive demands,” the spokesman said. Google will now examine the details of the proposal closely.
Representatives of the collecting society rated the decision as a success despite the comparatively small sum. “With this decision, the arbitration board confirms the actual use of press content by Google,” said a spokesman for Corint Media. Google itself denied to the end that it was using it at all and refused to pay any provisional remuneration for the ancillary press rights. In the talks, Corint Media offered Google several times to leave the decision on the amount of reasonable remuneration to the courts and to agree on a provisional payment amount until the final decision, emphasized the Corint Media spokesman.
Last word not spoken yet
The fixed sum is not the last word in the matter. Corint Media expects that if the arbitration board makes a decision in the main proceedings, high amounts of millions will be confirmed as appropriate payment for the use of the press ancillary copyright. Google contradicted Corint Media’s representation that payments had been refused in principle. “We have made several offers to Corint for both permanent and interim payments,” a spokesman said.
(mack)
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