Posted by John Burke on March 23, 2005 at 11:06 AM
After being legally summoned by Agence France Presse (see former posting), Google has begun to remove the French agencies content from GoogleNews. A law suit in which AFP demands US17.5m in damages in addition to this removal was filed last Thursday and is predicted to have repercussions for GoogleNews if other new agencies begin to follow in AFP's path, refusing to allow Google to publish it's copyrighted material. This would result in a serious restructuring of GoogleNews, could possibly have similar effects on other aggregators, and could lead major news companies to distinguish themselves from the plethora of news sources on the Internet ultimately making it easier for these companies to charge for their online content. It is not yet known whether Google will have to pay the desired damages, nor when the search engine will complete removal of AFP's content.
Sources: Poynter and Digital media news for Europe
Posted by John Burke on March 23, 2005 at 11:06 AM
After being legally summoned by Agence France Presse (see former posting), Google has begun to remove the French agencies content from GoogleNews. A law suit in which AFP demands US17.5m in damages in addition to this removal was filed last Thursday and is predicted to have repercussions for GoogleNews if other new agencies begin to follow in AFP's path, refusing to allow Google to publish it's copyrighted material. This would result in a serious restructuring of GoogleNews, could possibly have similar effects on other aggregators, and could lead major news companies to distinguish themselves from the plethora of news sources on the Internet ultimately making it easier for these companies to charge for their online content. It is not yet known whether Google will have to pay the desired damages, nor when the search engine will complete removal of AFP's content.
Sources: Poynter and Digital media news for Europe
Reuters reports that Agence France Presse is suing Google for using their photos, headlines, and story leads on GoogleNews. AFP, which charges for its material, demanded that Google cease to use its content, which users can read free of charge. Google already ran into this problem in Japan in September 2004 when one of the country's major dailies, Yomiuri Shimbun, refused to allow Google to post its editorial at the launch of GoogleNews Japan and in the United States with the nude photo publication Perfect 10, which accused Google of allowing browsers to freely access its images through websites that had pirated them. If this trend continues and various publishers team up against Google focusing on their own branded RSS feeds, it's possible that there could be a backlash against aggregated news sites. If they're successful, newspapers may yet find a feasible way to add to their online revenue by charging readers for their breaking news.
Source: Reuters
Reuters reports that Agence France Presse is suing Google for using their photos, headlines, and story leads on GoogleNews. AFP, which charges for its material, demanded that Google cease to use its content, which users can read free of charge. Google already ran into this problem in Japan in September 2004 when one of the country's major dailies, Yomiuri Shimbun, refused to allow Google to post its editorial at the launch of GoogleNews Japan and in the United States with the nude photo publication Perfect 10, which accused Google of allowing browsers to freely access its images through websites that had pirated them. If this trend continues and various publishers team up against Google focusing on their own branded RSS feeds, it's possible that there could be a backlash against aggregated news sites. If they're successful, newspapers may yet find a feasible way to add to their online revenue by charging readers for their breaking news.
Source: Reuters
