Two years ago, the Agence France-Press (AFP) sued Internet giant Google over the latter’s Google News service, claiming that Google’s posting of headlines, news summaries, and images via Google News constituted copyright infringement. The lawsuit, filed in both France and the United States, was based on a similar argument to disputes Google has faced with Belgian publishers: basically, that Google was taking headlines, summaries, and photographs, republishing them, and reaping benefits from advertising associated with that content, all without asking permission of (or compensating) the publishers and copyright holders. Google has always maintained that its actions amount to fair use.
Digital Trends
