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Doing business in Europe?

by loughlini
5 replies
I discovered yesterday that the Spanish government has made new laws about linking to other websites from your own. It seems that you can be held responsible for anything the linked website does.

Apparently, Google News has been stopped in Spain due to these new laws. I also understand that the EU is considering making it Europewide. I believe that Germany has similar laws too.

Has anyone experiences problems is selling stuff in Europe?
#business #europe
  • Profile picture of the author DexterGallagher
    It depends if the company that owns the website is a limited liability company. Usually you cannot be held responsible for actions of others outside your business and I do not know how it would be enforced.
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  • Profile picture of the author Frank Donovan
    Originally Posted by loughlini View Post

    Apparently, Google News has been stopped in Spain due to these new laws. I also understand that the EU is considering making it Europewide. I believe that Germany has similar laws too.
    Google News stopped publishing in Spain last year because the Spanish government passed a law requiring news aggregators to pay a fee to each copyright owner they referenced. Germany passed a similar law, but when the German publishers ended up losing much of their traffic, they reached an agreement with Google to continue its news site in that country.

    Google News Spain to close in response to story links 'tax' | Technology | The Guardian

    I don't know what you mean about sites being "held responsible" for their links. Perhaps you could provide a source.

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    • Profile picture of the author loughlini
      Hi Frank,

      This news might be 6 months old but I've only just seen it so it's news to me

      My source for the post is:

      https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/1...-copyright-law
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      • Profile picture of the author Frank Donovan
        Originally Posted by loughlini View Post

        This news might be 6 months old but I've only just seen it so it's news to me

        My source for the post is:

        https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/1...-copyright-law
        Thanks for the link, Ian - that's essentially the same story I linked to. I'm still unclear about this comment from your opening post:

        It seems that you can be held responsible for anything the linked website does.
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        Are you referring to the amendments made by the Spanish government that make it a legal requirement for a site-owner to remove any links to copyright-infringing material?

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        • Profile picture of the author loughlini
          I think it's the latter but the 'law' is beyond my Bailywick. I usually concentrate on breaking it, not interpreting it.
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