Now, French court asks Google to pay publishers for their content

Googlemust open talks with publishers in France about paying to use their content, an appeals court confirmed on Thursday, paving the way for an industry-wide deal in the countryin a long-running dispute about revenues from online news.

The ruling came as the US internet giant announced it was close to a deal on compensating French media groups for news shown inGooglesearch results.

Such a deal would represent a climbdown byGoogle, which has so far refused to comply with new EU rules giving more copyright protection to media firms for news displayed on search engines and social media.

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France was the first European country to ratify the law, whichcould act as a lifeline to newspaper groups grappling with shrinking print sales.

In April, the French competition authority orderedGoogleto negotiate with the press in good faith,a ruling it appealed, accusing the authority of overstepping its jurisdiction.

Googleargues it should not have to pay to display items produced by news companiessince they benefit by receiving millions of visits to their websites.

The French court's decision differs from last week's pledge byGoogleto pay $1 billion to publishers globally over the next three years for their news, as the French arrangement involves finding a sustainable methodology to remunerate publishers and news agencies.

Google's vehicle to remunerate news publishers, dubbedGoogleNews Showcase, is set to launch in Germany, where it has signed up German newspapers including Der Spiegel, Stern, Die Zeit, and in Brazil with Folha de S.Paulo, Band and Infobae.

The French court's ruling comes hours afterGoogle, the world's biggest search engine, said it was set to reach with a deal to pay French publishers for their news, the latest move to placate media groups and head off regulators siding with publishers.

"Our priority remains to reach an agreement with the French publishers and press agencies,"Googlesaid in a statement.

"We appealed to get legal clarity on some parts of the order, and we will now review the decision of the Paris court of appeal."

The ruling confirms a decision in April by France's competition authority, which orderedGoogleto negotiate with publishers and news agencies "the remuneration due to them for any re-use of protected content".

Under the same decision, the antitrust regulator orderedGoogleto open talks within three months of being asked to do so by publishers.