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Latham & Watkins is representing major French media in a case against Google over its refusal to pay for displaying their content in search results.

The case, brought before the French Competition Authority – the country's competition regulator – sets up a legal battle over a new EU copyright law.

Latham is representing the French media industry body known as Alliance de la Presse d'Information Générale (APIG) – a group of dozens of national and regional newspapers, including Le Monde, Le Figaro and Les Echos.

The Latham team working on the matter is headed by Paris-based competition partners Jacques-Philippe Gunther and Adrien Giraud, and also includes Brussels associate Jean-Baptiste Douchy and Paris associate Juliette Raffaitin.

APIG claims that Google is abusing its dominant position by not complying with a new French law that states that publishers must be paid for the use of content such as article extracts and thumbnail pictures in search results.

Google has said it will only use this type of content if publisher fees are waived. Otherwise, it will only show very limited content in search results – for example, a headline and link. APIG says this will lead to a decline in online traffic and hence advertising revenue for publishers.

APIG wants Google to fully and comprehensively comply with French law and has requested interim measures be taken to stop Google's current approach.

The French news agency Agence France-Presse, which is not a member of the newspaper alliance, is preparing a separate claim against Google on similar grounds. AFP "obviously intends to assert its rights and will soon take action", Fabrice Fries, chair and chief executive officer of AFP, said in a statement.

In addition, newspapers across Europe last week published an open letter signed by more than 1,000 journalists, filmmakers and senior media figures urging governments to ensure that Google and other technology firms comply with the law in this area.

"It is not really sane to be against states and regulatory agencies when you are working with Europe," Arnaud Touati, a lawyer at French firm Hashtag Cabinet d'Avocats who works with technology and media businesses, told Law.com.

Also, "in terms of communication, it is not good for Google to keep this position so, even if this is slow, they will probably change it", he added.

The French copyright law in question came into effect on October 24. It implements an EU copyright directive approved by the European Parliament in April that requires companies operating media platforms such as Google, Facebook and YouTube to obtain licences to host content from publishers.

France is the first EU state to implement the directive, which must be passed into national law by June 2021.

Google's position has also been challenged elsewhere in Europe, though with little success. Earlier this year, German newspaper and magazine publishers brought an unsuccessful claim against Google demanding that it pay for the use of article extracts on Google News.

In 2014, Spain passed a law requiring Google and other content platforms to pay for the use of content extracts. This led to Google removing Spanish publishers from Google News and closing Google News operations in Spain.