German Parliament Votes To Protect News Snippets From Republishing

By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch

Munich – A controversial update to German copyright law providing for an auxiliary protection for tiny extracts from press articles has been finally passed by the German Upper House (“Bundesrat”).

What has been characterised and campaigned against as a “lex Google” not only by Google, but also by Germany’s industry associations, journalist associations and activists alike shall prevent internet platforms from using publishers’ content without licensing (and payment) except for “single words” or “minimal extracts”.

The legislation originally targeting Google’s news services has been heavily criticised by the opposition in German Parliament and was passed against the votes of Social Democrats, Green Party and the Left on 1 March. Yet the Social Democrats caved before the vote today and accepted what they themselves had called a very bad law. The Green Party, which had hoped the law could be delayed until after the election, called it a “legislative botch”.

Statements in German follow:

Bundesrat statement is here.

Green Party press release is here.

Social Democrats’ press release is here.