Google appeals against 500 mn euro French antitrust fine

Google has filed an appeal against the 500 million euro fine brought by the French antitrust watchdog over a copyright dispute related to the tech giant not paying a local media for news content.

The French antitrust body fined Google for failing to comply with its orders on how to conduct the talks with publishers. The Competition Authority said that the appeal would not delay the fine, which the US tech company must still pay, reports The Guardian.

"We disagree with a number of legal elements, and believe that the fine is disproportionate to our efforts to reach an agreement and comply with the new law. We continue to work hard to resolve this case and put deals in place," the report quoted Sebastien Missoffe, Google France head as saying.

"We continue to work hard to resolve this case and put deals in place. This includes expanding offers to 1,200 publishers, clarifying aspects of our contracts, and sharing more data as requested by the French competition authority," he added.

The appeal will be formally ruled on by the Paris' court of appeal, but according to the French Competition Authority, Google will have to pay the fine regardless.

Back on July 13 when the penalty was imposed, the French watchdog also noted that the search engine giant is required to present proposals about compensation plans for news agencies within the next two months, or face up to 9,00,000 ($1.07 million) per day once this deadline expires.