German Antitrust Authority Rejects Case to Make Google Pay Copyright Fees

摘要

The German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt) dismissed an antitrust complaint against Google Inc and Google Germany GmbH brought to compel the online giant to pay copyright fees for content it aggregates, ruling that the complainants - copyright collection society VG Media and 12 German media publishers - failed to present sufficient grounds for reasonable suspicion of antitrust violations, according to the decision dated Aug. 11 and released by VG Media Aug. 22. The decision was termed "a victory for Google" according to attorneys interviewed by Bloomberg BNA about the case, but who also warned that the internet company could still face trouble with the antitrust authorities in Germany in this matter.