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Google Belgian Copyright Challenge Continues
In 2006, Internet search giant Google launched its Google News service in Belgium. Shortly afterwards, a newspaper copyright group representing Belgian French-language publishers sued Google for copyright infringement. Eventually, a Belgian court ruled that Google could not post headlines and links to news stories posted on Google News and stored in its search engine cache without permission. Google appealed that decision, and has attempted to negotiate a settlement.
The Belgian copyright group says that it calculates its damages at between €32.8 million and €49.2 million (about US $51.7 million to US $77.5 million), and has called on Google to pay a provisional amount of €4 million (about US $6.3 million).
Google has not commented on the damages claims because it has not yet received the relevant documents.
This case is clearly important to Google – if its reliance on fair use and related doctrines for the legitimacy of services like Google News fails here, it could face many more similar suits elsewhere. On the other hand, coming up with a workable settlement arrangement could help Google resolve the situation in Belgium and avoid similar problems elsewhere.
For additional information, visit:
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/27/business/EU-FIN-Belgium-Google-Vs-Newspapers.php