Belgian newspapers: Google blocking us on searches

BRUSSELS — Google blocked several Belgian newspapers from its search listings Friday in what the papers alleged was retaliation by the internet giant over a court case dealing with copyright infringement.

Google said an order issued in the case had prevented it from allowing the newspapers’ web sites to show up in searches.

The dispute began in 2006, when Copiepresse, representing several Belgian newspapers, sued Google, saying it had no right to post links to their newspaper articles on Google News without payment or permission.

Google lost the case in a lower court, and that decision was upheld this MayOne of the papers, La Capitale, said on its web site Friday that Google was “boycotting” it.

But Google spokesman William Echikson said the company had no choice but to block the papers from its searches. He added that the court decision applied not only to Google News but also to Google index, and the company faced considerable fines if it allowed the newspaper’s websites to appear in search results.

“In keeping with the recent court decision, we are removing Copiepresse’s material from our index,” Echikson said in an e-mailed statement. “We regret having to do so, but we remain open to working in collaboration with Copiepresse members in the future.

“Were we to keep the material in the index, we would potentially face fines of 25,000 euros ($35,359) per infringement. We would be happy to re-include Copiepresse if they would indicate their desire to appear in Google Search and waive the potential penalties,” he said.

However, an excerpt from the court decision that Echikson included in an e-mail did not appear to ban newspaper web site addresses from appearing in search results.

It said the court “orders Google to remove from its Google.be and Google.com sites, and in particular, cached links visible on Google Web and the Google News service, all articles, photographs and graphics of daily newspapers published in French and German by Belgian publishers . . . subject to a (euro) 25,000.00 fine per day.”

An article Friday on the web site of one of the newspapers, La Libre, took issue with Google’s interpretation.

“It is necessary to distinguish the Google search engine from the Google news service,” the article said. “The news editors do not oppose having their content referenced by the Google search engine, they refuse on the other hand for their informational content to be included in Google News,” the article said.

Google searches by The Associated Press late Friday confirmed that the websites of that various newspapers involved did not appear in search results, as they have in the past.