Google settles with Belgian publishers

Google has reached a settlement with publishing houses in Belgium, reports DPA’s Helen Maguire. The announcement was made on Wednesday, six years after a court ordered the internet giant to remove all content from Belgian publishing group Copiepress from its news site. “We have reached an agreement that ends all litigation and represents great news for both us and the newspapers,” Google Belgium chief Thierry Geerts wrote in a blog post. The deal allows Google to advertise its services on the publishers’ media, while the publishing houses will use Google’s advertising services. “We continue to believe that our services respect newspaper copyrights,” he wrote, adding, “We are not paying the Belgian publishers or authors to include their content in our services.” The agreement ends years of dispute after Belgium’s leading newspapers successfully took Google to court in 2006 for breaching authors’ rights and Belgian databank regulations.