Not for the first time, Google finds itself defending its method of using media reports without permission.

In the latest salvo against the search engine giant, Copiepresse which represents Belgium's French-language newspapers is seeking more than $30m in damages. E-Brief News reports that the move follows claims that Google's alleged infringements have cost Copiepresse's members up to EUR49m. Google's search engine offers links to the Web sites it indexes but also to 'cached' copies of those pages. The copies are stored on Google's own servers. Talks aimed at resolving the copyright dispute 'ended at the end of January without result', a Copiepresse spokesperson said. In February last year, a Brussels court found that 'by reproducing on its Google News site articles and short extracts from articles, Google reproduces and communicates to the public works protected by copyright'. The judgment upheld an earlier decision from the Court of First Instance in Brussels, which required Google to remove the content from Belgium's French- and German-language newspapers from its site. 'Google cannot claim to be an exception under copyright law,' the court said in its decision. PCWorld reports that Google said it was disappointed with the decision and it reiterated its argument that it posts only a short snippet of newspaper stories on its Web site and that users must click through to a newspaper's Web site to read the full story. The court did not affirm every part of the earlier ruling and it significantly reduced the daily fines that Google was required to pay for not removing the newspapers' content from its Web site, from almost $2m per day to $33 543 per day. According to a report on the News24 site, Google stopped using articles from the newspapers but said that it would appeal the ruling. It also accepted to enter into tough talks with Copiepresse to settle past problems and fix ground rules for their future relations.
Full PC World report
Full News24 report


Copiepresse asked Professor Alain Berenboom of the Free University of Brussels to assess how much material was stored and reproduced by Google without its members' permission, and what its members' losses from that activity was. Berenboom found that the losses attributable to that activity were between EUR32.8m and EUR49.2m for a single year, and that it would be for the Court to decide which figure to choose as the damages to be paid to Copiepresse members. Out-Law.com notes that Google said that the figure for damages had no basis. 'We strongly believe that Google News and Google Web search are legal, and that we have not violated Copiepresse's copyright,' said a spokesperson. 'This is why we are appealing the February 2007 ruling. We consider that this new claim for past damages is groundless and we intend to vigorously challenge it.'
Full Out-Law.com report