Germany’s

governing coalition has agreed to back a new law that would enable journalists

and publishers to claim payment from aggregators like Google for using news

snippets.  The proposed legislation would create a new neighbouring right

for publishers who could demand Google and other news aggregators to pay for a

compulsory licence for using news snippets online.  The licence would be

valid for one year from the first day of the publication. Journalists may

benefit from the new law if the government passes its “third basket” of the

copyright legislation to ensure the implementation. (Read more)