Sharjah 24 – AFP: Google said on Thursday it had agreed a "milestone" deal with a number of German media outlets to pay for the use of their content online.

The agreement is the first with publishers in Germany after the country legislated on so-called neighbouring rights, developed from an EU copyright directive and which have been at the heart of multiple disputes between internet giants and the media over payment for the use of online news and other content.

German newspapers Zeit, Handelsblatt and Tagesspiegel, as well as weekly magazines such as Spiegel, WirtschaftsWoche and Manager Magazin, among others, are party to the deal with the American tech company.

"For both us and our partners, these copyright agreements represent a milestone in strengthening successful partnerships," Google said in a blog post, adding that it was pursuing discussions with other publishers.

"Platforms like Google are important partners for us, not least because they bring a lot of traffic to our websites and we can commercially leverage this reach," said Rainer Esser, the managing director of the publishing group behind German weekly newspaper Zeit.

The two sides had found a "mutually beneficial solution", managing director of Spiegel Stefan Ottlitz said in a statement.

Details as to the size of the deal were not given.