Google said Thursday it would shut down its news service in Spain on Dec. 16, meaning it would stop linking to content from Spanish publishers.

The company explained its decision was tied to a new Spanish intellectual property law to come into effect as of January next year.

The legislation in question dubbed "Google Tax" would have forced publishers to charge the Internet search firm "for showing even the smallest snippets of their content, whether they want to charge or not," the company said in a statement.

Tricky issue

The Spanish law did not specify just how much publishers would have to be paid. Googe said because it showed no ads and earned no revenue from the service, "being charged for showing content is simply unsustainable."

The company maintained it obeyed all copyright laws while sending people to websites highlighted in its news service. It has also allowed publishers to prevent material from being displayed, but the option has rarely been used by content providers.

In Germany, regulators revised copyright laws last year in a way that could have required Google News to make royalty payments. But the firm asked publishers to give consent for summarizing content and most did.

hg/cjc (AP, dpa)