Court to Google: Hands off Belgian newspapers' material
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(InfoWorld) - A court forced Google Inc. on Monday to remove all French and German language newspapers published in Belgium from its Google News search service. The order comes after an association of local publishers sued the search engine giant successfully for copyright abuse, Google said Monday.Copiepresse, an organization that helps protect the copyright of some of Belgiumâs best known newspapers including Le Soir and Le Libre Belgique, sued Google for publishing summaries of the newspapersâ stories, along with a link to the newspapersâ own sites.The court warned Google that failure to remove all material from the Belgian newspapers from Google news from Monday would result in daily fines of around US$1 million.The case was heard on Sept. 5 at the Belgian court of first instance but Google claims to have only found out about the court hearing and its outcome last Friday. "We were not able to make our case directly to the judge. We are disappointed by the decision, which we believe is flawed and which we intend to appeal,â said D.J. Collins, a spokesman for Google based in London. Reports earlier Monday claimed that articles from the newspapers were still appearing on the Google News search engine, but none were visible in the early afternoon local time. Collins said his company was complying: "We have removed the relevant sources," he said. Copiepresse wasnât immediately available for comment but in statements to journalists earlier in the day the organizationâs general secretary Margaret Boribon said legal action against Google was necessary because the company was profiting from the work of the newspapers. "We are asking for Google to pay and seek our authorization to use our content," Boribon told news agencies including Reuters. Collins dismissed the case as "entirely unnecessary." "Google has a clear policy of respecting the wishes of content owners. If a newspaper does not want to be part of Google News we remove their content from our index -- all they have to do is ask. There is no need for legal action and all the associated costs," he said. Google News benefits publishers, he added, by making it easier for people to find their content and driving large numbers of users to their Web sites. "It is important to remember that we never show more than the headlines and a few snippets of text. If people want to read the entire story they have to click through to the newspapers' Web site," he said. The case involving the Belgian newspaper publishers is similar to legal action brought against Google by the French national news agency Agence France Presse a year and a half ago. AFP generates revenue by charging fees to news outlets that subscribe to its wire service. In its complaint, AFP charges Google with copyright violation, alleging that, as a nonsubscriber to AFP, Google has no right to include AFP content in Google News. That case is still ongoing.
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(InfoWorld) - Google violated the copyright of Belgian newspaper publishers when it posted extracts from their stories on its Google News Web site, a Belgian court ruled on Tuesday. The judgment upholdsÂ an earlier decisionÂ from the Court of First Instance in Brussels, which required Google to remove the content from Belgium's French- and German-language newspapers from its site. It could open the door to further lawsuits and limit the ability of search engines in Europe to display copyright material on their Web sites. The Belgian newspapers, represented by the trade group Copiepresse, had argued that Google profited unfairly by posting short extracts of their stories on its Web sites. Google appealed the initial judgment and the result of that appeal was announced on Tuesday. "Google cannot claim to be an exception under copyright law," the court said in its decision. Margaret Boribon, Copiepresse's secretary general, called the ruling "a very good result for us" and said it largely upholds the court's original findings in September.. Google said it was disappointed with the decision and that it planned to file a further appeal. "We believe that Google News is entirely legal," the company said. It reiterated its argument that it posts only a short snippet of newspaper stories on its Web site and that users must click through to a newspaper's Web site to read the full story. Google's lawyers were studying the judgment on Tuesday morning and were not ready to comment in detail, said Google spokeswoman Jessica Powell. The court did not affirm every part of the earlier ruling, which was issued in September. It significantly reduced the daily fines that Google was required to pay for not removing the newspapers' content from its Web site, from â¬1.5 million per day to â¬25,000 per day. Still, Tuesday's decision is a blow to Google and possibly to otherÂ search engines in Europe. Copiepresse had also complained toÂ Microsoft's MSN divisionÂ and toÂ YahooÂ about their use of its members' content, although so far it has brought legal action only against Google. Copiepresse will now go back to MSN and Yahoo and apply renewed pressure on them to remove all of its members content, Boribon said. Microsoft said Tuesday that it would provisionally remove all links to the Belgian newspaper content from its Web sites rather than become embroiled in a legal dispute. "Microsoft however underlines that these measures do not imply any acknowledgement or recognition of Copiepresse's rights and that it reserves all rights," the company said. While some newspapers clamber over each another to be in Google News, others see it as a threat to their business because users can bypass their home pages to find stories, and possibly avoid visiting their sites altogether. Copiepresse wants Google to pay a share of its advertising revenue to its members in return for using their content, Boribon said. Google responds that it helps publishers to reach a wider audience and drives traffic to their sites because users must click through to the newspapers' Web sites to read the full stories. It has called the Belgian case an important one because it "goes to the heart of how search engines work." The company has also had to delay its launch of Google News in Denmark after newspapers there demanded a system that would allow them to "opt in" to Google's service, rather than having their content trawled automatically. And a Norwegian media group has objected to the way that Google reuses their news photographs. A spokesman for the European Commission on Tuesday suggested that the Commission may take a closer look at copyright law in Europe as a result of the Google ruling. "Its something we are following with great interest but we have no specific comment at this time," said Oliver Drewes, the Commission's spokesman on copyright-related matters. (Paul Meller in Brussels contributed to this report.) Â
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Google is being investigated by the European Union over possible violation of the bloc's privacy rules. At issue is the search engine's practice of retaining user information for up to two years.
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Google Inc. on Saturday published on   its Belgian website a court order which forbids the Internet   search engine to reproduce snippets of Belgian press on its   news amalgamation service.
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The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, ruled in June that three German magazines - Bunte, Freizeit Revue and Neue Post - violated Caroline's privacy rights by publishing photos of her and her ...
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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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Late last month, the Court of First Instance in Brussels issued a decision ordering Scarlet, one of Belgium&#39;s leading ISPs, to begin blocking copyrighted material that passes through its servers. The court gave the ISP six months to implement one or more technologies recommended by a court-appointed expert, and threatened the company with fines of up to 2,500 euros per day (roughly US$3,400) if it fails to comply.
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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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A Belgian court said on Friday it  would wait until after the new year to decide whether to uphold  an injunction blocking Web search leader Google Inc. from  reproducing snippets of Belgian press reports.
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European court rules Google violated copyright when it posted extracts from a Belgian newspaper.
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The US Internet portal Google complied with a court order and posted on its Belgian websites a copyright ruling that went against the giant online information provider.
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Europe's papers today grapple with an empty handed WMD hunt, French occupation revisionism and Basque separatism
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'Common Carrier' claim melts away A Belgian legal victory by authors and composers means that the country's third-largest ISP has six months to clean up its networks of copyright infringing material distributed by P2P.â¦
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Documents related to a whistle-blower lawsuit that led to a text-messaging sex scandal involving the mayor must be turned over to the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News, a judge ruled Tuesday.
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Waterloo for Google News in November Google has finally complied with a court order that it must publish the judgment in a copyright case it lost against Belgian newspaper group Copiepress.â¦
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China has been accused of blocking access to Google News by the media watchdog, Reporters Without Borders. The Paris-based pressure group said the English-language news site had been unavailable for the past 10 days.
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Belgian court has ruled that an ISP is responsible for blocking illegal file sharing on its network, could set precedent.