Google News facing new copyright rows?
Posted by
Martin Stabe
on 20 November 2006 at 13:11
Tags: Google, Journalism
A post published on the official Google Blog last week announcing the launch of Norwegian and Swedish versions of Google News, neglected to mention a few new copyright difficulties that the search giant is facing from Scandinavian newspaper organisations.
The Danish Newspaper Publishers’ Association, Danske Dagblades Forening, has managed to stop the launch of the Danish version after demanding that Google seek permission from each publisher that they represent, according to Dagens Næringsliv.
The Norwegian paper reports that Google has complied sending with letters seeking permission to the Danish papers.
Dagens Næringsliv also reports that the Norwegian Media Businesses’ Association, Mediebedriftenes Landsforening, has expressed concern expressed concern about Google’s use of thumbnails of newspapers’ photographs in Google News Norway.
Terje Bringedal of the Norwegian Press Photographer’s Club, meanwhile, told Journalisten that using photographs without permission should be considered theft.
The thumbnail issue has caused problems for Google in the past. A regional court in Hamburg, Germany, ruled in 2003 that Google’s use of thumbnails in Google News Germany constituted copyright infringement. That case had been brought by the German press association, DPA.
Tags: Google, Journalism
