Agence France-Presse sued Google last month, alleging that Google's inclusion of AFP photos, headlines and first paragraphs of stories constituted copyright infringement.
Courts have established that search engines can legally link to other websites. But AFP objected to Google's collecting and presenting what are arguably the three most important elements of news. The Paris-based news service asked for at least $17.5 million in damages, and Google immediately started removing AFP material from Google News.
Google "is using AFP's photographs in the exact same manner that its subscribers, other news aggregators and news publications, who actually pay for AFP's photographs, use them," the news agency argued in its lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington.
Executives from Associated Press are also concerned about Google and other news aggregators that pluck stories from the Web instead of paying for them. They have not sued Google or asked Google to remove AP stories from the news service but said they were in negotiations, trying to persuade the Internet company to buy a license.
"We believe AP content has value online, and we expect to be compensated for it," said Jane Seagrave, director of new media at AP.
A Google spokesman declined to comment on negotiations with the wire service. In a statement, the company said it removed materials from Google News upon request from publishers but that most want their stories included.
Count Reuters among the news companies that appreciate Google. The service licenses stories to newspapers, television networks and other subscribers, but it also runs a website with ads alongside the story.
"We're very much trying to drive traffic to our sites," said Reuters spokeswoman Susan Allsopp. "There's no question that Google and the other [news aggregator] sites are incredibly important."
News aggregators are among the most visited media sites on the Web. Yahoo News leads the pack with 24.6 million visitors in February, and AOL News is third with 21.2 million visitors, according to ComScore Media Metrix. Other top news sites include MSNBC and CNN.com.
Google is 10th, but it's growing fast; 5.9 million people visited Google News, up 90% from February 2004.
