German Government Wants Google to Pay for News Quotes

By Cynthia Herbert :: 1:53 PM

In the lower house of Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag, legislation was passed that requires search engines, such as Google and Bing, to pay a fee to license and re-publish content longer than just a few words or short excerpts. The legislation passed by a vote of 293 to 243.

The law is currently unclear on the definition of a short excerpt. The law will not go into effect unless it is ratified by Germany’s upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat.

Google has voiced its opposition to this law in Germany, similar to how it opposed similar proposals in France.

The company released the following statement regarding the legislation: “As a result of today’s vote, ancillary copyright in its most damaging form has been stopped. However, the best outcome for Germany would be no new legislation because it threatens innovation, particularly for start-ups. It’s also not necessary because publishers and Internet companies can innovate together, just as Google has done in many other countries.”