Google refused to comply with a Belgian court decision that required the company to publish the original text of the ruling on its sites, calling that requirement 'unnecessary' and 'disproportionate.'
Earlier this month, the Belgian Court of First Instance ordered the Internet search engine to stop publishing content from Belgian newspapers without permission or payment of fees.
Local newspaper editors argued that Google's popular news site, which features small photos and excerpts from news reported elsewhere, stole traffic from individual newspapers' sites.
Google complied with the ruling, which threatened to impose daily fines of about $1.27 million against the Mountain View-based company. Google is removing the Belgian newspapers from its indexes.
The court also demanded that Google post the original text of the ruling on its Belgian sites, Google.be and news.google.be. The court is scheduled to rule on whether Google must publish the text or face fines of $634,000 per day.
Google spokesman Steven Langdon said he hopes both aspects of the ruling will be overturned.
'It is important to remember that we never show more than the headlines and a few snippets of text,' Langdon said in an email. 'If people want to read the entire story they have to click through to the newspaper's web site.
The company will continue to defy the court's requirement that Google post the judgment to Belgian sites, he said. The company plans to appeal the entire ruling, he said.