Follow Spain investment immigration and Spain economy news: In October 2014, the Spanish Parliament passed a new version of the Intellectual Property Law. The act partially entered into force in January 2015 and will be fully effective in May 2015. The act stipulates many new provisions, among which one of the most notable amendments is the addition of Article 32.2, known as the "Google Tax." The purpose of this clause is to regulate the online dissemination activities of internet content aggregation platforms. The article stipulates that internet content aggregation platforms do not need authorization to copy content snippets, but publishers or other rights holders have the right to receive reasonable compensation. These content snippets refer to those displayed through periodic publications or regularly updated webpages for the purpose of reporting, creating public opinion, or providing entertainment. Rights holders exercise their right to receive this reasonable compensation through intellectual property management organizations, and this right cannot be waived. Article 32.2 further stipulates that in any case, any third party must obtain authorization to make any images, photographic works, or simple photographs published in periodicals or on regularly updated websites available to the public. Because this provision highlights stricter protection for images and photographic works, the content aggregation platforms specified in Article 32.2 are interpreted as primarily targeting news aggregation websites. That is, news aggregation websites providing summaries or other news snippets do not need authorization from copyright owners or other rights holders, but must pay "reasonable" fees to the relevant rights holders.
The provisions of Article 32.2 of the Spanish Intellectual Property Law have received praise and support from traditional media and collective copyright management organizations, but Google News, which is most affected by this clause, has announced its withdrawal from the Spanish market. The American financial and technology website Business Insider once pointed out that this legislation in Spain is "very unwise." There are also voices claiming that European countries place too much emphasis on the protection of media copyrights and personal privacy rights, which in turn suppresses innovation in the technology industry.