Axel Springer continues his battle against Google. In fact, the German publishing group has taken a clear position on the debate relating to the digital single market, through the words of its executive vice president Christopher Keese, who, during an interview with La Stampa, asked for a European legal framework for the digital age.
In the community reform, according to Keese, there are "two points that concern the media in particular: competition and copyright“. Copyright that represents one of the stones of the scandal in the relationship with Google, which has decided not to pay for the fragments of information present on Google News, despite the fact that German copyright law provides for payment.
A situation that has created a short circuit that is difficult to manage, as Google has removed the publishers who had sued it from its News. "We tried for a couple of weeks - declares the vice president of Acel Springer - to do without it and the financial damage was significant".
“We gave Google a free license pending trial,” explains Keese, adding, however, that it is not a real truce: “as soon as we win in court, they will have to pay. The first sentence should arrive at the end of September, and we are confident of winning. It will take years, but that's not a problem. We want a framework of laws for the digital future. And the future is long”.
The battle against Google, to date, also involves European authorities, such as the Antitrust, which is investigating the search engine. For Keese, however, it is not a battle, but a request: "Everything requires a legal infrastructure, and the Internet is the only technology that does not yet have any legal framework".
