Google Sulks in Wake of Belgian Court Decision

Andy Updegrove writes “In what seems to be a petty display of childishness, Google at first refused to post at its own Websites in Belgium the news of a recent defeat it suffered in a Belgian courtroom – at the cost of paying a $640,000 per day fine. A day later, it caved, saying it would appeal instead. In contrast to the thousands of other news items that are automatically Hoovered on to its News page on a daily basis, Google originally claimed that the news had been so widely reported that reporting it at its Belgian news site was unnecessary and “disproportionate.” The judge did not agree. The story is more significant than it originally might appear, since at issue is the question of whether not only search sites like Google, but other sites that link to news and include a few sentences are violating the copyright of the original content owner.”