Papers Win Suit Against Google
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A Belgian court rules that the search company violates copyright law by providing free access to news stories that online newspapers generally charge for. By the Associated Press.
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(InfoWorld) - Google has agreed to post a court order against the company on its Belgian Web site, dodging a potential fine of â¬500,000 ($639,000) per day for not doing so. The court order stemmed from a lawsuit filed by a group of Belgian publications that accused Google of infringing their copyrights by posting articles on its Google News Web site without their permission. The order, issued Sept. 5, required Google to stop posting stories from the Belgian papers. It was also required to post a copy of the court's order on its Web site for five days. Google removed the stories in mid-September but resisted posting the order, arguing that the dispute had already been widely publicized in the press. On Friday it lost an appeal against the order to post the ruling, the Associated Press reported. Google didn't immediately return calls seeking comment. The order now appears at www.Google.be and on the Belgian Google News Web site. The news site now features articles from Dutch and other international news outlets. Google will appeal the entire ruling at a hearing scheduled for late November, according to the Associated Press story. Google News includes headlines and brief summaries of news articles. Users click on a story link to be taken to the publication's Web site, where they can read the full article. This isn't the first time Google has butted heads with the news media. The French news agency Agence France Presse has anÂ ongoing lawsuitÂ that accuses Google of copyright violation for including its stories on Google News without subscribing to the AFP service. Google has also raised theÂ ire of some book publishersÂ for its Google Book Search offering, which allows visitors to view parts of books online. Groups representing publishers have filed lawsuits arguing that Google must ask for permission before scanning and displaying the contents of the books.
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A young German entrepreneur won a legal battle Thursday against Internet behemoth Google on the use of its &quot;Gmail&quot; brand for free electronic mail service.
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Unhold the Press! Google has settled with two media agencies in a Belgian copyright case which could change the face of its Google News service. It has not yet settled with the group that started the law suit, Copiepresse.â¦
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An independent report filed on  Friday in an Arkansas court sided with Google over disgruntled  advertisers who had sued the search engine giant accusing it of  trying to drive up fees through so-called click fraud.
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By Stephen Foley  Google has chalked up a victory over Microsoft in a legal battle over its rival's operating system, Windows Vista.
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(InfoWorld) - Google has scheduled an appeal for July 17 in itsÂ copyright dispute with Belgian newspaper publishers, although the two sides expect to request an extension while they try to resolve the conflict amicably, spokespeople for Google and the publishing group, Copiepresse, said on Tuesday. The court's schedule required Google to file its appeal 10 days ago, otherwise a ruling against it from February would have become permanent. But there will be no appeals hearing as such this month, and the two sides will merely ask the court for an extension while they continue their talks, said Catherine Anciaux, a legal advisor for Copiepresse. A Google spokeswoman concurred. "There will be no substantive hearing for several months," she said. Copiepresse, the publishing group representing Le Soir, Le Libre Belgique and other Belgian newspapers, sued Google last August for copyright infringement, arguing that it profits unfairly by posting snippets of its members' news stories on Google's Web sites without paying for their use. The Court of First Instance in Brussels sided with Copiepresse in September,Â ordering Google to removeÂ the Belgian Web sites from Google News and its main search engines, which it did. The court reaffirmed its decision in February. Google was also fined â¬25,000 ($34,000) for each day that it delayed removing the newspapers' content from its Web site. It has not yet paid any fines, which will be considered as part of the appeals process, the Google spokeswoman said. The two sides clearly hope to settle the matter out of court, however. They reached an initial agreement in May thatÂ allowed Google to begin linkingÂ to the newspapers from its main search engine again, although it still cannot list them inÂ Google News. Google maintains that linking to the content is legal and provides a useful service for the general public and the newspapers, because it drives traffic to their sites. Copiepresse has said it wants to be included in Google News but that it should be compensated, by an advertising revenue sharing agreement or in some other way. Â
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(InfoWorld) - Google Inc. has reached an agreement with two groups representing authors and photographers in Belgium that had objected to the way the company indexes and displays their content on its Google News Web site. The agreements with Sofam, which says it represents 3,700 photographers, and Scam, which represents 20,000 writers, mark the first steps by Google in resolving a copyright lawsuit that forced it to remove French- and German-language Belgian newspaper content from its Web site. On Friday, a judge in Brussels heard arguments in that case, filed by a group of newspaper publishers, Copiepresse. Sofam (SociÃ©tÃ© MultimÃ©dia des Auteurs des Arts Visuels) and Scam (SociÃ©tÃ© Civile des Auteurs Multimedia) were among several smaller groups that had joined Copiepresse in its legal action. "We reached an agreement with Sofam and Scam that allows us to make extensive use of their content," Google spokeswoman Jessica Powell said on Monday. The agreement allows Google to use content from the groups in "new ways" that "go beyond what copyright law allows," she said. She declined to say if Google is paying the groups or to provide further details. Google has signed a deal to use content from the Associated Press newswire that it described in similar language. Copiepresse has complained that Google violates its members' copyrights by indexing their content and displaying it on Google News without asking permission. Google says the use is legitimate because it shows only a snippet of news stories, and because it directs users to the publications' Web sites to read the full story. On Friday, the judge in Brussels said she would give her verdict in the case early next year. Google News has also run into trouble in Scandinavia, where it launched two weeks ago. The company delayed the introduction of the news service in Denmark after publishers there objected to having to "opt out" if they didn't want their content displayed on Google's Web site. And a publishing group in Norway has protested the use of its members' news photographs, which it says is not permitted under Norwegian copyright law. Google has declined to comment on talks with any particular publishing groups, but says it is open to discussions to resolve disputes. Â
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Google has won a trade mark dispute, with a District Court judge finding that the search engineâs sale of sponsored search terms âGeicoâ and âGeico Directâ did not breach car insurance firm GEICOâs rights in the trade marked terms.
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Google has scheduled an appeal for July 17 in itsÂ copyright dispute with Belgian newspaper publishers, although the two sides expect to request an extension while they try to resolve the conflict amicably, spokespeople for Google and the publishing group, Copiepresse, said on Tuesday.
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A Belgian court dealt a blow to Google by ruling against the US Internet giant in a copyright case lodged by French-language Belgian newspapers and closely watched by other media.
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Google Lawsuit Thrown Out of German Court  A Hamburg court rejected Metaspinner Media 's lawsuit against Google over allegations the Internet search engine allows rival companies to buy ads using trademarked terms, an attorney said Tuesday.  The AP Wires report that Metaspinner Media took Google Deutschland to court in May, accusing it ...
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Articles from the AP, AFP, U.K. Press Association, and the Canadian Press will appear directly in Google News pages.
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A federal appeals court handed Google a setback in a patent fight on Wednesday, tossing out part of a summary judgment in Google's favor in a lawsuit filed by Hyperphrase Technologies, LLC.
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A Belgian court has ordered Google  Inc. to stop reproducing articles from French-speaking  newspapers in the news section of one of its Belgian websites,  a local press organization said.
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A federal appeals court handed  Google  a setback in a patent fight on Wednesday,  tossing out part of a summary judgment in Google's favor in a  lawsuit filed by Hyperphrase Technologies, LLC.
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Text of report by Belgian RTBF radio on 13 February  Google has lost its court case against the publishers of Belgian French-language newspapers.