&gt;  and promptly changed their mind.<p>They didn&#x27;t. They _sued_ Google, trying force them to link to them (and, naturally, pay for it – a paltry 6% of Google&#x27;s revenue in Germany¹). It was turned down by the courts in September², only then was Google given a gratis license by some publishers.<p>Smaller actors (other search engines, newspapers, bloggers, …), of course, can&#x27;t afford risking such a confrontation and now have to pay up for the privilege! of being allowed to advertise for Axel Springer publications.<p>This, too, ended up in the courts, as said smaller actors sued the publishers over the gratis license given to Google, claiming it was anti-competitive. The case is handled in secret, VG Media (the organisation founded by AS to handle licensing) is suppressing information of it from becoming public.³<p>¹: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.heise.de&#x2F;newsticker&#x2F;meldung&#x2F;Leistungsschutzrecht-VG-Media-will-angeblich-6-Prozent-des-Google-Umsatzes-in-Deutschland-2626070.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.heise.de&#x2F;newsticker&#x2F;meldung&#x2F;Leistungsschutzrecht-...</a><p>²: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bundeskartellamt.de&#x2F;SharedDocs&#x2F;Meldung&#x2F;DE&#x2F;Pressemitteilungen&#x2F;2015&#x2F;09_09_2015_Google_VGMedia.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bundeskartellamt.de&#x2F;SharedDocs&#x2F;Meldung&#x2F;DE&#x2F;Pressem...</a><p>³: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.golem.de&#x2F;news&#x2F;gratislizenz-fuer-google-die-streng-geheime-niederlage-der-vg-media-1511-117284.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.golem.de&#x2F;news&#x2F;gratislizenz-fuer-google-die-streng...</a>