May 27 (Bloomberg) -- A group of Belgian newspapers are seeking as much as 49.1 million euros ($77 million) from Google Inc. in a lawsuit over the right to feature links to the publishers' content on the Internet.

Copiepresse, a copyright group for newspapers in Belgium, is asking a Brussels court to award between 32.8 and 49.1 million euros, Margaret Boribon, the group's secretary-general, said today. A court last year ruled Google violated Belgian copyright laws by publishing links to articles on Google News without permission.

Google, owner of the most popular Internet search engine, and the Belgian newspapers started discussions on a possible agreement shortly after the Feb. 13, 2007, court ruling. Google appealed, saying it was a way to keep its options open in case the negotiations between both sides broke down.

``Any attempts to reach an agreement between the two sides have failed,'' Boribon said in a telephone interview from Brussels.

The damages are in addition to a daily fine of 25,000 euros the court last year ordered Google to pay until it removes all Belgian news content. Google did remove links to Belgian newspapers it had on its search engine and on Google News.

Google hasn't received anything from Copiepresse, said Jessica Powell, a spokeswoman for Mountain View, California-based Google. The company is waiting for the outcome of its appeal, she said.

Publish Ruling

In addition to damages, Copiepresse is also seeking to have Google publish ``in a visible and clear manner'' the court ruling from last year on Google.be and news.Google.be for 20 days, the group said. If Google doesn't publish the ruling, the group said it would seek a 1 million-euro daily fine.

The two sides resolved part of their dispute in May 2007 when Google removed ``caches'' -- data that is saved on the search engine's own sites to allow quicker access -- from its links to the newspapers' Web sites. The agreement allowed Internet users to access Belgian newspapers again on Google's Web site in the country.

No such solution was found concerning the direct links to the newspapers' articles on Google News, which remains without Belgian newspaper stories.

To contact the reporter on this story: Stephanie Bodoni in Luxembourg at sbodoni@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 27, 2008 13:24 EDT