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EU: EU looking to force copyright charges on Google

By  |  January 20, 2015

After a four year antitrust investigation into Google, European Union (EU) commissioner of for the digital economy Günther Oettinger is asking for the competition commission to provide a resolution by mid 2015. The investigation is looking into allegations that Google’s search engine favors Google products over competitors’ services. Oettinger also invited Google to discuss possible changes to the EU’s copyright rules. Several EU based publishers have criticized how Google dominates how people find content online and some countries have responded by requiring news aggregators like Google News to pay to show publishers’ content on their websites. After Spain passed the copyright law, Google News shut down for the country. Policy makers in Europe are considering overhauling copyright laws for the entire EU, though internet companies are strongly opposed to this move. Oettinger was asked in an interview on Tuesday if the EU has taken an antagonistic stance towards American tech companies, to which he responded, “It’s not a battle, but a competition and cooperation.”

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