Google’s chief has warned newspapers they need to do more to satisfy readers online. But Eric Schmidt’s speech did little to answer the Associated Press’ claim that Web sites should share some of the wealth they generate from using newspaper content.

Schmidt told the Newspaper Association of America that publications should work with firms such as Google to produce news sites which were better tailored to the individual reader. He bluntly warned: “I would encourage everybody: think in terms of what your reader wants. These are ultimately consumer businesses and if you piss off enough of them, you will not have any more.”

The speech came just a day after the Associated Press threatened legal action to clamp down on Web sites using its stories without permission, both in straight cutting and pasting and through paraphrasing.

As the New York Times points out, few newspapers have asked to remove their sites from either Google’s main search engine or its news site. That’s because it would be a poor commercial move to give up the traffic that they get from such links. But they do have concerns that Google might make a profit from selling adverts on the Google News site: a profit that newspaper owners believe they should get a fair share of.

It’s important to note that Google licenses the rights to show Associated Press articles in full, though it doesn’t pay to use extracts from newspapers. This is why it only includes a couple of lines and links to the full page, which Google believes is adequate under fair use provisions in copyright laws.

Google’s Alexander Macgillivray argues that this system benefits newspapers as it sends extra traffic to their sites and thus drives up ad revenue. (Naturally he suggests Google AdSense as the best form of online ad sales.)

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Entry was posted on Wednesday, April 8th, 2009 at 12:40 pm under Google, Legal.

Read more entries by John Lister.
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