A group of Belgian newspaper publishers wants Google to pay up to €49.2 million (US$77.5 million) in damages for violating copyright law by publishing their articles on Google News and caching their web pages. It made the claim in a court summons served last week, and made public on Wednesday. The Belgian publishers" group Copiepresse first filed suit over the Google News service in April 2006.
"We entered in negotiations with Google to reach an agreement, but they have now failed," said Margaret Boribon, secretary general at Copiepresse. Now Copiepresse is asking for between €32.8 million and €49.2 million in damages, and wants Google to appear in court on Sept. 18 at a hearing to decide whether the newspapers" copyright was infringed and to rule on the claim for damages, according to the summons.