Google will close down Google News Spain after the country implemented a new law requiring the Internet search giant to pay for linked content. This new intellectual property law is called the Google Tax and will be effective Jan. 1, 2015.

The Spanish government passed a copyright law in October requiring content services, including Google News, to pay publishers fees starting Jan. 1. A group of news publishers, the Asociacion de Editores de Diarios Espanoles or AEDE, lobbied the copyright law but didn't specify an amount. Google doesn't profit from this free service and any amount would mean a loss for the Internet search giant.

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To prevent any loss, Google announced its Google News Spain will end on Dec. 16. Google News Head Richard Gingras explained that the new legislation requires every Spanish publication to charge the company for showing any snippet from their websites. Because Google News doesn't make money itself, this approach is not sustainable.

Google News experienced the same hurdle in Germany when the country passed the same law. It forced the Internet search giant to remove news publishers from its news service.

In October, publishers agreed with Google to display content for free after traffic to their websites dropped. Spain does not allow publishers to waive the Google Tax, however.

Spain's copyright law will affect all websites that contain links to copyrighted content. The websites will be subject to fines and even closure should they refuse to remove the links.

TagsGoogle Spain, Google Tax