Ruling could have impact on Google as publishers fight back

by Ben Bold, Brand Republic 18-Sep-06, 11:00

BRUSSELS - A Belgian court has ruled that Google should stop publishing stories by French-language newspapers or face fines of €1m (£675,000) for every day the content stays live.

The complaint against Google was lodged by Copiepresse, a company that handles the copyright for the Belgian French- and German-language press. The court ruled that Google's publishing of newspaper content online contravened copyright laws.

The ruling could have major implications for Google and media owners who have long complained that their content is freely available on the search engine along with that of thousands of other publications.

The court also ruled that Google must publish "in a visible and clear manner and without any commentary" the details of the court's judgment on the homepages of google.be and news.google.be for "a continuous period of five days".

"We are asking for Google to pay and seek our authorisation to use our content," Margaret Boribon, general secretary of Copiepresse, told Reuters. She added that she is in the process of informing her counterparts in other countries of the court ruling.

Google was also ordered to pay costs of about €1,000.

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