business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1875370,00.html
uk A ruling by a Belgian court could potentially block Google's news aggregation business. A complaint against the internet giant was launched by Copiepresse, an organisation that manages copyright for the French and German-speaking press in Belgium. The court has ordered Google to stop reproducing articles from French-speaking newspapers in the news section of one of its Belgian websites. The court's ruling, which was issued on September 5, stipulates that Google must pay a fine of 1m euros (675,000) a day if it does not comply, according to the Copiepress general secretary, Margaret Boribon.
Advertisement Links and summaries of articles in Belgian newspapers such as La Derniere Heure, La Libre Belgique and Le Soir were still visible on Google's Belgian website today. "We are asking for Google to pay and seek our authorisation to use our content ... Google sells advertising and makes money on our content," Ms Boribon told Reuters, confirming reports in Belgian media. She said she was informing her European counterparts of the results of the court action and it was possible that similar actions could be taken elsewhere in Europe. Google spokeswoman Rachel Whetstone said: "We are disappointed by the decision, which we believe is flawed and which we intend to appeal." She added that Google's policy is to remove any newspaper's content from its index if asked. "We believe this case was entirely unnecessary," Ms Whetstone said. "There is no need for legal action and all the associated costs." Google is facing a similar lawsuit by French news agency Agence-France Presse, which is also seeking monetary damages. Similar cases in Germany and the Netherlands not involving Google have found in favour of internet sites linking to copyrighted content. "The Belgian ruling seems very unusual and unprecedented," Christian Alberdingk Thijm, a Dutch internet lawyer, told Reuters. "The scope and breadth of the ruling, on a very narrow foundation, is also extraordinary. If courts start preventing linking, we're entering a slippery slope." The court relied on the testimony of a witness named Luc Golvers, a computer consultant, who said Google News must be considered an information portal rather than a search engine. Mr Golvers said cached versions of news articles can be seen using Google servers even after the articles are no longer being posted on a newspaper's website. He added that, according to a copy of the ruling, Google News was circumventing publishers' advertising revenue. But Ms Whetsone said: "Google News does not have cached versions."
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