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´GOOGLE TAX´ – CANON AEDE
How did the proposal for a ´Google Tax´ or the Canon AEDE as it is mentioned in the Spanish press, come to be in the proposal for reform of the the Law of Intellectual Property in the first place?
AEDE stands for Asociación de Editores Diarios Españoles – a private organisation with large print-media publishers as its members- Since 1990 and the internet becoming a rapidly growing medium for news publishing, print media are losing terrain.
AEDE claims that their members are losing even more money as a result of their articles being shared on the Internet and they state that compensation should be paid. Under the guise of protecting Intellectual Property, the idea for a Canon (tax) on links was born.
CEDRO is the organisation that will be in charge of the actual billing of the tax. An association dedicated exclusively to the management of intellectual property with regards to printed media. Needless to say that the companies united in AEDE are also the principal associates of CEDRO.
Why is the tax referred to as Google Tax? Because of Google News, a website that shares news articles from sources from all over the world. As the biggest of its kind, it will be affected directly and dramatically.
But not only Google, Facebook and such, authors of small blogs that link to news articles they find of interest to their readers, will also be subject to this tax. To name just one example.
Most recently a study into the effects of this proposed Canon/tax has come to the conclusion that, by losing time in finding the information they need/want, the negative economic result, just for Spanish users, would amount to 1.100 million dollars.
Also, the development of the Internet would slow down considerably, not a good thing in an economic recession either.
For now, this is a proposal, definite voting will take place in the autumn. CAB Spain will keep you posted!
