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Berlin (dpa) - The US group Google is withdrawing from the legal dispute over cooperation with the federal government on an online health portal.
Google company spokesman Kay Oberbeck informed the German Press Agency: "We can confirm that we have withdrawn the appeal."
The legal dispute is about a cooperation between Google and the Federal Ministry of Health, which the judges at the Munich Regional Court provisionally prohibited with their judgment in February.
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In the case of Google search queries about illnesses or complaints, an info box from the portalheil.bund.de was prominently displayed, which is the responsibility of the Ministry of Health under Jens Spahn (CDU).
The information comes, for example, from the German Cancer Research Center, the Robert Koch Institute or from specialist medical societies.
Spahn hoped that the cooperation with Google would boost awareness of the portal.
However, media companies fear disadvantages because they also offer health portals on the Internet.
The Hubert Burda Media group had sued Google and the Federal Republic of Germany via a subsidiary, the health portal netdoktor.de, and obtained temporary injunctions with the judgment.
The court judged the cooperation as an antitrust violation.
The agreement restricts competition.
Google then removed the info boxes.
The legal dispute did not concern the question of the admissibility of the portal as such.
In March it became known that the US group had appealed the judgment to the Munich Higher Regional Court.
At the time, the company emphasized that it was still examining whether and which legal measures should be taken and that it had therefore taken precautionary steps to gain time.
With the appeal that has now been withdrawn, the judgment is final, as the higher regional court announced.
The Federal Ministry of Health confirmed that it had not, for its part, filed an appeal against the court's decision.
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Google spokesman Oberbeck said of the withdrawn appeal: “Since the Federal Ministry of Health has not filed an appeal against the provisional injunction issued against the federal government, the content of the health portal gesundheit.bund.de can no longer be permanently integrated into the Health Condition Knowledge Panels become.
This means that there is no need for us to proceed. "
The panels refer to the info boxes on the search engine page.
Philipp Welte, board member at Hubert Burda Media, informed the dpa on Friday: "The Munich Regional Court has set an example for the independent press, and it has shown the monopolies clear limits."
The fact that Google accepts the verdict "we see as a sign of respect for the freedom of the media as a fundamental value of our democratic society."
In addition to this legal dispute, other bodies also dealt with the health portal.
Wort & Bild Verlag from Baierbrunn applied to a Berlin court for an injunction against the federal government.
When asked, a court spokesman said that there was still no date in this case.
The “Apotheken Umschau” brand, for example, is part of the portfolio of Wort & Bild Verlag.
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The German media regulators are also currently checking the portal.
The Hamburg / Schleswig-Holstein media authority initiated the internal procedure in December.
It is checked whether the prominent presentation of the health portal discriminates against other journalistic-editorial offers from the subject area of health.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210409-99-140591 / 2