The trouble with Googling Japanese News

Mr. Masahiro Takemura, Editor of the digital media Bureau for Yomiuri Online, commented on his paper's original decision to refuse GoogleNews access to its articles and the reason for the eventual change of heart. Takemura admitted that Yomiuri Online, which already was receiving about 200 million page views per month, would have significantly increased its page views and reinforced advertising revenue by allowing its content to be viewed on GoogleNews. But there were 2 major problems:

1. a copyright problem, stemming from an existing lawsuit with a Japanese aggregator

2. maintaining good relations with other major portal sites which distributed Yomiuri news and generated considerable revenue

Yomiuri only accepted use of its content after GoogleNews agreed to respect the copyright of the Japanese daily's headlines which saved its agreements with the other portals. Takemura's advice when dealing with GoogleNews? The benefits ultimately outweigh the problems, but a paper must be careful to make sure its content is protected.