It was not, however, the first time mainstream publications have gone after Google, nor was it the last.
In a fierce warning issued Tuesday by the head of a group representing European publishers, Francisco Pinto Balsemao told a Brussels publishers conference that Internet search engines like Google prevent a number of companies from making money off of their content.
“The new models of Google and others reverse the traditional permission-based copyright model of content trading that we have built up over the years,” Balsemao, the head of the European Publishers Council, said.
In March, French news agency Agence France Presse sued Google for $17.5 million, claiming the search engine displays photos, headlines and story leads on Google News without authorization or compensation.
The lawsuit is still ongoing, but is clearly backed by Balsemao.
“It is fascinating to see how these companies 'help themselves' to copyright-protected material, build up their own business models around what they have collected and parasitically earn advertising revenue off the back of other people's content,” he said.
Balsemao warned that the collection models typified by Google and other primary players in the search biz would literally ruin publishers and other content providers if it is allowed to continue.
"This is unlikely to be sustainable in the longer term,” he said.
Google had yet to respond to Balsemao’s statement at press time, but spokeswoman Debbie Frost said the company might respond some time later in the day. Previously, however, Google has always maintained that content providers can ask to be removed from its search strings if they do not want their content available through Google.
Unfortunately, according to Balsemao, Internet users have grown used to the idea that online content should be free, thanks to efforts by Google and other powerful search engines like Yahoo and MSN.
A new education for online consumers is in order, he said.
“The value of content must be understood by consumers so that new business models can evolve. Industry must have legal certainty and the confidence that their intellectual property will be protected.”
To combat the trend, some search services, such as Yahoo, have begun paying content providers. AFP and The Associated Press, for example, both receive payment from Yahoo for rights to their news content.
Instances of such payment are, however, fairly limited.
