A Google neon sign is shown at Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., Monday. / AP-Yonhap |
By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Reporter
Google, the world's foremost search engine, may face a lawsuit in Korea regarding its offering of online news search services without the permission of newspapers.
The Korea Online Newspaper Association, which includes most of the country's vernacular dailies, said Thursday that it is considering bringing Google to court.
``Google has demonstrated content of our members on its Korean-language news search engine without approval,'' said Han Ki-bong, head of the association.
``We consider filing a lawsuit seeking to bar the display of such news content on Google's search engine,'' Han said.
Han projected the association would have a good opportunity at winning the court action because other news agencies already marked a victory in similar cases.
Indeed, France-based AFP sued Google midway through last year in federal court in Washington, D.C., claiming that Google News had infringed on its copyright on articles and images.
The measure prompted the U.S.-headquartered Google to remove AFP articles from its news index and Google has faced other litigation related to its news services.
``We have the option of blocking our port so Google's search robots cannot index news articles of our members. We are checking the viability of such a step,'' Han said.
Most main vernacular dailies are members of the Korea Online Newspaper Association, which includes Chosun Ilbo, Joongang Ilbo, Donga Ilbo and Hankook Ilbo.
The newspapers have provided news articles and images under a prior agreement with local portals like top player Naver and runner-up Daum.
But Google has provided the news articles and photos through the outbound link system at its news search without signing any agreements.
Comments from Google Korea were unavailable.
voc200@koreatimes.co.kr
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