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Germany: Publishers bow to Google’s market dominance

By  |  October 23, 2014

As Germany’s antitrust authority investigates the market power of Google, reports say publishers are – for the time being – bowing down to the corporation’s strength and allowing the technology firm to publish news snippets for free.

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    Reports say the publishers had been fighting for compensation from Google for publishing these snippets. But Google recently decided to stop using these snippets from some major news sites in the nation to avoid legal risks.

    Now, however, the publishers, represented by copyright body VG Media, said they are being forced to offer Google their “revocable” right to publish their content in search results due to Google’s “overwhelming market power.”

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    VG Media accuses Google of violating its market power by denying compensation for publishing those snippets, which the publishers say are necessary for traffic.

    Germany’s Bundeskartellamt is investigating allegations of market dominance abuse by Google. According to reports, the company controls about 90 percent of Germany’s online search market.

    Full content: Tech World

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