Belgian newspapers win suit against Google

Google Inc. lost a copyright lawsuit Tuesday to Belgian newspapers that had demanded that it remove headlines and links to articles posted on its news site without their permission.

The ruling, if it stands on appeal, could set a precedent for how Web search engines link to copyrighted material in the tumultuous arena of online news, according to the Belgian copyright group that launched the case.

Google said it would appeal, claiming that its Google News service was "entirely legal" and that the Belgian ruling did not set any precedent.

The Brussels Court of First Instance ruled that Mountain View, Calif.-based Google could not rely on exemptions, such as claiming "fair use," because it says it reviews news articles when it displays headlines, a few lines of text, photos and links to the original page.

"Google is reproducing and publishing works protected by copyright," it said. "Google cannot call on any exceptions set out by law relating to copyright or similar rights."

It decided in favor of Copiepresse, a copyright protection group representing 17 mostly French-language newspapers that complained that the search engine`s "cached" links offered free access to archived articles that the papers usually sell.

Copiepresse said the ruling was based on European Union law and could trigger similar cases against Google in other nations. The copyright group said it had been in touch with copyright groups in Norway, Austria and Italy.

But Google said the judgment, which confirms an initial ruling in September, would not necessarily carry influence in other areas.

"This ruling does not mean that everywhere else or every other judge in any other country would rule in the same (way), even in Belgium," said Yoram Elkaim, legal counsel for Google News. "There are conflicting rulings on those issues which are fairly new and complicated."

Google said the court still had not settled the debate on what the ruling covered, claiming that it applied only to Google News Belgium and google.be.

"In our view we have complied with the ruling fully since September," Elkaim said.

If the court agrees, Google would not have to pay retroactive daily fines of more than $32,000 for each day Google did not comply -- far lower than an earlier judgment that had threatened $1.3 million a day.

But Copiepresse lawyer Bernard Magrez claimed that Google was still not complying fully with the ruling -- saying it covered google.com and other versions.

If the court agrees, fines could run as high as $4.3 million.

Copiepresse still is negotiating similar copyright issues with Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp.`s MSN. - Associated Press

sections: World News, Region News, Hi-Tech
regions: Central region