[A2k] Google News to appeal Belgian copyright decision

[Michelle Childs]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/19/google_versus_belgium/


Google News to appeal Belgian copyright decision

By Chris Williams
Published Tuesday 19th September 2006 13:38

Google will challenge a Belgian court ruling against Google News, worried
the judgement might set a precedent which could impinge on its role as a
content aggregator and the online advertising sold on the back of it.

As we reported yesterday, an action by Belgian newspapers demanded under
national copyright law their content be removed unless Google sought their
permission and agreed financial terms.

 Google is adamant that its news service does not infringe national or
international copyright law. It says it will happily remove a source at
its publisher's request.

Google instigated this "you only had to ask" policy after French wire
service AFP sued it in US courts last year.

Since learning about the two-week-old Belgian judgement on Friday, Google
has removed the offending feeds from the nascent operation.

A Google statement on the case, which was brought by publisher Copiepress,
said: "We believe that this case was entirely unnecessary. There is no
need for legal action and all the associated costs."

Google lawyers will now appeal against the legal logic behind Copiepress'
victory. They will argue Google News does not infringe copyright law as it
uses only introductions to articles, in a similar way to how newspapers
may quote from a book.

The company statement continued: "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' website."

Google has always pleaded its aggregator provides news media with more web
traffic. The ad broker seems increasingly affronted at continuing
ingratitude from continental types. =AE



--
Michelle Childs -Head of European Affairs
Consumer Project on Technology in London
24, Highbury Crescent, London, N5 1RX,UK.
Tel:+44(0)207 226 6663 ex 252.
Mob:+44(0)790 386 4642. Fax: +44(0)207 354 0607
http://www.cptech.org

Consumer Project on Technology in Washington, DC
1621 Connecticut Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20009 USA .Tel.:
+1.202.332.2670,Fax: +1.202.332.2673

Consumer Project on Technology in Geneva
1 Route des  Morillons, CP 2100, 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 791 6727