Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) -- A Brussels court said Google Inc. violated copyright laws by publishing links to Belgian newspapers without permission and ordered the company to remove them, setting a precedent for future cases in Europe.

Google, the owner of the world's most-used search engine, must pay 25,000 euros ($32,500) a day until it removes all Belgian news content, the Brussels Court of First Instance ruled today. There's ``no exception'' for Google in copyright law, the court said. The Mountain View, California-based company said it has already removed the content and will appeal the ruling.

The case may restrict how Internet sites in Europe link to newspaper content. Copiepresse, a group representing French- and German-language newspapers including La Libre Belgique and Le Soir, had sued Google for copyright infringement. The journals lose advertising revenue when Google uses snippets of articles and links directly to stories, bypassing ads on their Web sites, said Bruno Vandermeulen, a Brussels-based lawyer at Bird & Bird.

``It could definitely lead to more lawsuits,'' Vandermeulen, an intellectual property specialist, said in an interview. ``I can perfectly imagine that other lawsuits will be filed against other content providers, such as YouTube,'' Google's video service.

Fine Details

The court ordered Google to remove articles, photos and graphics ``from all its sites,'' including Google News and cached copies visible in search results.

``Google will have to reach a deal to make it worthwhile for newspapers to cooperate,'' David Hooper, a newspaper lawyer and partner at Reynolds Porter Chamberlain in London, said by telephone today. ``There is a tendency for Google to use things for free and reach a deal later.''

Bernard Magrez, a lawyer for Copiepresse who works for Eurothemis, said the daily fine imposed against Google today is retroactive for 139 days, to when the search engine was first asked to remove the content.

Google will have to pay an additional 1,000 euros a day to other copyright groups, including SAJ, which represents journalists, if it fails to remove their content from its sites, the court ruled.

Yoram Elkaim, a lawyer for Google, said in Brussels today that the company was waiting for further clarification from the court about the fines.

Google shares rose 81 cents to $459.10 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. They have declined less than 1 percent in 2007.

Open to Talks

Google last year postponed plans for a Danish news site after newspapers complained. In 2005 French news agency Agence France-Presse sued Google for linking to its content for free. Copiepresse has also threatened legal action against Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo! Inc. if they continue to use their stories.

Google's YouTube, a video-sharing site, earlier this month agreed to remove more than 100,000 clips produced by New York- based Viacom Inc. after they were posted without permission.

Google and Copiepresse both said today that they were open for negotiations.

``There's no animosity,'' said Philippe Nothomb, head of legal affairs of Rossel et Cie., which owns Belgium's most-read French daily, Le Soir. ``We just don't want a win-lose situation.''

``There is a real complementarity between these services,'' Google's Elkaim said. ``This judgment doesn't stop us negotiating.''

Saved Links

Google News was introduced in Belgium in January 2006, showing headlines, photos and the first few lines of news stories with links to the full articles on the newspapers' Web sites. The case is part of a global drive by newspaper publishers to force search engines to pay for using their stories and pictures.

The newspapers sued last year and won a court order that forced Google to remove all links to their content, or face a 1 million-euro daily fine.

Google's Elkaim said the company had complied with the September court decision and removed the content as ordered.

The editors have maintained since the September ruling that some content is still on the system, visible using Google's ``Cached'' links -- data that is saved on the search engine's own sites to allow quicker access.

The company argues that using headlines and text fragments with links to newspaper Web sites on Google News is legal. The Belgian newspaper editors, including Francois Le Hodey, chief executive officer of La Libre Belgique, say their content creates ``colossal traffic'' for search engines, which is profitable only for them.

More Lawsuits

Today's decision may embolden other newspapers to start similar group litigation or use it as a negotiating tactic, said Greg Sterling, an analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence.

``Google doesn't want to get into paying for content or negotiations with individuals or trade organizations if it can avoid it. But it may not have the option,'' Sterling, whose market-analysis firm is based in Oakland, California, said in an interview today. While the case may trigger litigation across the EU it won't likely affect the U.S., he said.

Copiepresse plans to target all search engines that offer similar services, its secretary-general Margaret Boribon said. Yahoo, which received a formal notice from the group in January, won't be the last, she said. Publishers and editors in other European countries including Austria and Italy who were waiting for today's verdict, may now file similar lawsuits, she said.

``I wouldn't be surprised to see a series of actions after today,'' said Boribon.

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

Last Updated: February 13, 2007 16:19 EST