A decision was passed down by a Belgian court today, prohibiting Google from reproducing extracts from Belgian newspapers. While the decision on its own is not that worrisome, it may land the search giant in trouble if the precedent is followed by similar decisions in other European courts.
The case was brought by Copiepresse, which manages copyrights for Belgium’s French- and German-language newspapers and has also demanded that the French division of Internet portal Yahoo stop displaying Belgian press reports.
This is not the first time Google has faced such a complaint. The French news agency, Agence France Presse filed a similar suit back in 2005. Google has expressed disappointment in the ruling and plans to appeal the decision.
Retuers has more.
For more on the purported evilness of Google, check out Gevil.org.
Originally posted on February 13, 2007 @ 3:34 pm