Google looses Belgian copyright case
p2pnet.net news:- Copiepresse, a group representing 19 French and German newspapers in Belgium, has won its fight against Google meaning the latter might now have to pay daily fines of €25,000 (today, about $32,733) for copyright violations.
But, it could be a pyrrhic victory, says Guardian Unlimited.
The story has SearchEngineLand.com’s Danny Sullivan, “Copiepresse have certainly rallied a group of publishers together, and Google clearly will cut some deals with the application of pressure … but I think it’s not even really a thorn in their side.”
He said the decision, “really makes a mockery of the whole argument in the first place because their goal was really to try and force Google to pay for the content on Google News”.
“We celebrate a victory for content producers,” The New York Times has Margaret Boribon, secretary-general of Copiepresse, declaring. “We showed that Google cannot make profit for free from the credibility of our newspaper brands, hard work of our journalists and skill of our photographers.”
Google carries advertising on its general Belgian site, Google.be, but not in its news index. Links to the publications represented by Copiepresse have already been removed from both, says the story.
“This is an isolated case, and it would be inaccurate to portray Google News as standing in conflict with the publishing industry,” said Google spokeswoman Jessica Powell.
Legal experts in the United States said the decision would have no direct impact there, says the NYT, “But if upheld, they said, it could result in headaches for Google on both sides of the Atlantic.”
Microsoft last year promised to remove all links to cached and non-cached articles from French and German-language Belgian newspapers from its Live Search engine and the news engine Newsbot, burt was still, “committed to having a dialogue with Copiepresse on the matter”.
Also See:
Guardian Unlimited – Google infringed copyright, Belgian court rules, February 14, 2007
The New York Times – Google Said to Violate Copyright Laws, February 14, 2007
promised to remove – Microsoft caves to Copiepresse, October 23, 2006
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