About fifty press publishers, mainly regional, announced on Friday, November 8, that they had filed legal actions against the American giant Microsoft to pay them for using their publications according to the principle of “neighboring rights”.
In total, several million euros are claimed for securities of groups such as Ouest-France or Ebra (Est Bourgogne Rhône Alpes), in a series of summonses presented to the Paris judicial court by “falsification”.
“These steps are intended to ensure that a major digital player, which has been using millions of press content without authorization for almost five years, finally comes into compliance.” to the law, according to a statement from the General Information Press Alliance (APIG), which groups them together.
Rights related to copyright were established for digital platforms in 2019 by a European directive. They allow newspapers, magazines or press agencies to be paid when their content is reused by digital giants.
Google fined 250 million euros
However, according to APIG, “despite repeated requests from editors to this effect over several years”Microsoft, its professional social network LinkedIn and its search engine Bing are avoiding “the obligation to transmit data, essential for a negotiation in good faith” on the remuneration of these related rights.
In this long-term neighboring rights case, framework agreements were signed in October 2021 with Meta, owner of Facebook, and in March 2022 with Google, at the end of a long battle. They allowed APIG member media to negotiate directly with the platforms and are currently in the process of renegotiation.
But last March, the Competition Authority imposed a fine of 250 million euros on Google, accusing the American giant of not having respected some of the commitments made in 2022.
“It is essential that other large digital platforms also comply with the law”because “Respect for related rights represents a vital issue for the survival and independence of the media and the financing of professional journalism”underlines the APIG, which brings together nearly 300 national, regional and local daily news headlines.
