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Google finally settles with Belgian publishers over content scraping lawsuit

Google finally settles with Belgian publishers over content scraping lawsuit

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Google Nexus logo (STOCK)
Google Nexus logo (STOCK)

Google has announced an agreement with Belgian publishers that sued it six years ago over alleged copyright infringement in search and Google News. The publishers argued that Google illegally reproduced French-language content by linking to cached copies and displaying snippets, but have now dropped all litigation under a new deal. Google says that it isn't paying the publishers for their content, but will rather partner with them in a variety of ways including collaboration on revenue streams such as Google's AdSense platform, integrating Google services into the publishers' content, and assisting with distribution on mobile devices.

However, PaidContent notes that sources including Le Monde say Google paid around €5 million (about $6.5 million) after the publishers forced the search company to "bend." Google does say that it will market its services in the publishers' papers, so it's possible that purchasing a large block of advertising was one condition of the deal. In any case, it sounds like a fairly good outcome for Google. We've asked the company for comment and will update you when we hear more.