On April 1, Corint Media announced it was suing Microsoft for payments under the rights created by Article 15 of the European Union’s Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market. The Directive, adopted in 2019, requires EU member states to provide in their national legislation for a so-called publishers’ right, which allows news publishers to better protect their content online against uncompensated misuse by large online platforms by requesting adequate compensation for the use of their content. Corint Media is a German collective management organization (CMO) representing over 500 beneficiaries. According to news reports, Corint had requested €20 million from Microsoft for the use of its beneficiaries’ content, while Microsoft offered €700,000. Corint Media previously rejected an offer by Google to pay €3.2 million under the German law implementing the Directive, requesting €420 million instead. Google is currently being investigated by the German competition watchdog for suspected market-abusive behavior. Read more about the case against Microsoft here.
Members of the News/Media Alliance staff have contributed to this post.
