A Brussels court ruled Tuesday that Google had violated copyright laws by publishing links to articles from Belgian newspapers without permission. Legal experts said the case could have broad implications in Europe for the news indexes provided by search engines.
The ruling, which Google said it would appeal, was hailed by some newspaper industry representatives and may also have an impact on a lawsuit against Google by the news service Agence France-Presse.
“As the first decision to condemn a search engine for indexing news articles, you can be sure publishers around the world are paying attention,†said Cyril Fabre, a lawyer in Paris at Alexen, a law firm specializing in Internet law and intellectual property. “The implications in Europe are particularly strong since copyright law is so uniform across the Continent.â€
full story: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/14/business/14google.html?_r=2&ref=business&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
The ruling, which Google said it would appeal, was hailed by some newspaper industry representatives and may also have an impact on a lawsuit against Google by the news service Agence France-Presse.
“As the first decision to condemn a search engine for indexing news articles, you can be sure publishers around the world are paying attention,†said Cyril Fabre, a lawyer in Paris at Alexen, a law firm specializing in Internet law and intellectual property. “The implications in Europe are particularly strong since copyright law is so uniform across the Continent.â€
full story: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/14/business/14google.html?_r=2&ref=business&oref=slogin&oref=slogin