Google: Belgian Papers To Appear In Searches Again

Google began allowing the Web sites of French-language Belgian newspapers to appear in its search results again, saying it had obtained the papers' legal consent to do so without repercussions.

The Internet giant had blocked several Francophone Belgian newspapers from its search results starting Friday in what the papers called retaliation over a copyright infringement lawsuit that Google lost. User searches on Google for Belgium's Le Soir, La Capitale and La Libre, did not turn up the papers' Web sites. Google said the court order in the copyright case required it refrain from listing the newspapers in its search results. On Monday, Google said Copiepresse, an organization representing the papers, had signed a legal waiver and the publications could return to the search listings. The case began in 2006, when Copiepresse sued Google for posting links to articles and photographs on Google News without payment or consent. Copiepresse won the suit, and a higher court upheld that judgment in May.