10 April 2007

Google and AFP settle lawsuit

The two year tussle between Google and Agence France-Presse (AFP) has finally reached a conclusion, it was announced on Friday.

AFP had filed a copyright infringement lawsuit in March 2005, accusing Google News (GN) of posting headlines, photos and news summaries without permission.

The dispute has now been settled, like last year's row between Google and the Associated Press (AP), with the announcement of a new business partnership between the two companies.

AFP chief executive officer Pierre Louette welcomed the agreement and claimed that the new collaboration "will allow uses of AFP's content in ways that go beyond its typical use of content in Google's services".

GN, according to Mr Louette, currently "features just headlines and snippets of text to provide just a taste of what an article offers".

Mr Louette did not elaborate on the details of how the new joint venture would improve on this situation.

The tension between AFP and Google is part of a wider discussion regarding the legitimacy of GN displaying media content that it is not responsible for originating.

Steve Zell, the new owner of the Tribune newspaper group, asked last weekend what would happen "if all the newspapers in America did not allow Google to steal their content for nothing".

What, Mr Zell pondered, "would Google do, and how profitable would Google be" in such circumstances?

There is no suggestion yet that Tribune is considering similar legal action to that pursued by AFP.

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