[A2k] Re: [A2k] Belgian papers seek €49 m in copyright damages from Google

[Sean DALY]

For those interested in this case, I interviewed Margaret Boribon,
Secretary General of Copiepresse, in 2006 [1] and published the
English translation of the February 2007 Belgian Court of First
Instance ruling [2].

Sean.
[1] http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=2006101108382797 (en/fr)
[2] http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070726152837334



On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 12:10 PM, Michelle Childs
<michelle.childs@keionline.org> wrote:
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/may/28/google.pressandpublishin=
g
> Belgian papers seek €49m in copyright damages from Google
>
>    * Julia Kollewe
>    * The Guardian,
>    * Wednesday May 28 2008
>
>
> Belgian newspapers are pushing for up to €49m (£39m) in damages from
> Google for publishing and storing their content without paying or
> asking permission.
>
> Last year the search website lost a lawsuit filed by a number of
> French-language Belgian newspapers and was forced to remove their
> content which had been posted on Google News and stored in its search
> engine cache without the copyright owners' permission.
>
> Copiepresse, an organisation that represents the French and German
> language Belgian press, said yesterday it had summoned Google to
> appear again in September before a Brussels court that will decide on
> the claim for up to €49.2m in damages.
>
> The newspaper copyright group called on Google to pay a provisional
> amount of €4m.
>
> It said the losses were calculated by a professor at the University
> Libre de Bruxelles, based on articles stored via Google Search since
> 2001 and on Google News since it was launched in Belgium in 2006. The
> group suggested setting up a panel of Belgian experts to assess the
> figures if Google wanted to contest them.
>
> A Google spokesperson said: "We have not yet received anything from
> Copiepresse. We appealed the ruling of February 2007 and are awaiting
> the outcome of that case."
>
> Google has argued that search engines drive traffic to publishers'
> websites and that Google News never shows more than the headines, a
> few snippets of text and thumbnail images.
>
> Copiepresse began legal action against Google after links and
> summaries of articles from Le Soir and La Libre Bélgique appeared on
> Google.
>
> The Brussels court of first instance ruled in February 2007 that
> Google could not call on exemptions to copyright law, such as claiming
> publication of a few lines of text and links to the original page was
> "fair use".
>
>
> ---------
> Michelle Childs
> Head of European Affairs
>  Knowledge Ecology International
> www.keionline.org / www.cptech.org
> Phone:+44(0)207 226 6663 ex 252
> Email: michelle.childs@keionline.org
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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