Belgian court considers Google issues

27 November 2006

Brussels' Tribunal des Referes has said that a decision in a landmark court case involving search engine market leader Google will not be reached until 2007.

The case centres around whether or not an injunction blocking Google from displaying quotes from Belgian press reports should be upheld.

Copyright organisation Copiepresse brought the case against the search engine, and claims that despite the injunction, Google's webpage storing process means knowledgeable web users can still access the disputed material.

Agence France-Presse has filed a similar complaint in the US, but Google has announced it has reached an agreement with two plaintiffs in the Belgian case that will "help us make extensive use of their content in new ways", according to Google spokeswoman Jessica Powell.

On a similar note, Google has recently attracted disapproval from publishing groups for its policy of making as many books as possible free for all to view online. The company maintains that such open-access initiatives will prove to be helpful to all parties.

Category: Miscellaneous