海角大神

Google's聽decision to close聽Google聽News聽in Spain because of a law requiring aggregators to pay news聽publishers for linking content will reverberate all-around the world, the company said Thursday.

Google聽said it will block reports from Spanish publishers from its聽Google聽News聽international editions, which number more than 70, in addition to the Spain shutdown on Dec. 16 鈥� several weeks before a聽new聽Spanish intellectual property law takes effect on Jan 1.

That means people in Latin America where Spanish聽news聽organizations have sought to boost audiences won't see their聽news聽via聽Google聽News聽in Mexico and elsewhere. Also set to disappear are reports in English from Spanish publishers like the leading El Pais newspaper.

Spain's AEDE association, which represents large聽news聽publishers, lobbied for the law nicknamed the "GoogleTax" and declined comment on聽Google聽Inc.'s decision, which is the first shutdown since聽Google聽News聽was launched in 2006.

The law did not specify how much publishers would have to be paid by聽Google, but the company said Spain's law is much stricter than similar legislation enacted elsewhere because it mandates payments "for showing even the smallest snippets of their content 鈥� whether they want to charge or not."聽Google聽News聽doesn't generate revenue or show ads.

Google聽News聽has long-irked newspaper publishers and other content providers who contend the service tramples on copyrights by creating a digital kiosk of headlines and story snippets gathered from other websites.

Most venting has been limited to criticism likening聽Google聽to a freeloader, but there have been attempts to force the company to change its ways through the courts.

Google聽maintains it obeys all copyright laws while sending more people to websites highlighted in its聽Newsservices. The company also allows publishers to prevent material from being displayed in聽Google聽News, an option few websites choose because the service is an important traffic source to sell ads.

Alejandro Tourino, a Madrid-based lawyer who specializes in media issues and has worked for The Associated Press on several legal cases, said Spanish聽news聽publishers may "have shot themselves out of the market. Time will tell."

After Germany revised copyright laws last year in a way that allowed, but did not force聽Google聽News聽to make royalty payments,聽Google聽required publishers to give consent for summarizing content and most did.

Google聽last year agreed to help French聽news聽organizations increase online advertising revenue and fund digital publishing innovations to settle a dispute over whether it should pay for聽news聽content in its search results.

Google聽also had to respond to a ruling this year from Europe's highest court that people have a right to scrub unflattering or outdated information from聽Google's聽search engine. That case started in Spain.

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Associated Press writer Michael Liedtke in San Francisco contributed to this report.