AFP: Google-AP Deal Boosts Case

A lawyer for Agence France-Presse said a licensing deal disclosed this week between Google and the Associated Press would only help its copyright case against the search giant.

AFP sued Google last year in federal court in Washington, D.C., claiming the company had reused headlines, summaries, and photos on Google News without the wire service's permission. The suit seeks an injunction and $17.5 million in damages.

Google has long maintained that it owes no compensation to information providers because its display of news excerpts and small photos is protected as "fair use" under copyright law.

But AFP attorney Joshua Kaufman indicated Wednesday that the licensing deal with AP undermines that argument. "We think this supports our position of [Google] paying for copyrighted content," said Kaufman. "Somehow, we will weave this into our case one way or another."

Kaufman said that his client has had on-and-off negotiations with Google since last year, but that a settlement was not imminent. Motions in the case are not due until January.

AP opted to negotiate with Google rather than sue over the use of its copyrighted material. Financial terms of their agreement were not divulged, but some industry observers have speculated that Google will revamp its news offering--and among other changes, will start displaying pay-per-click ads next to news stories. Google, which launched its news product four years ago, has never monetized the service with ads.

Google currently is appealing a separate copyright case brought by adult entertainment publisher Perfect 10 to the 9th Circuit. In that case, a federal district judge ordered Google to remove links to unauthorized Web sites that contain Perfect 10 photographs. A lawyer for the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has filed an amicus brief on behalf of Google, disputed that Google's deal with the AP would benefit AFP in its lawsuit. "The fact that Google is offering this money [to AP] doesn't really change whether or not what they're doing is fair use," said Jason Schultz, staff attorney with EFF. But he added that the deal does show that Google is willing to work out licensing deals with news organizations, which suggests a settlement with AFP could be more likely.

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