Yahoo! gets copyright warning shot

A group representing French- and German-language Belgian newspaper publishers has sent legal warnings to Yahoo! about its display of archived news articles, the search company has confirmed.

Copiepresse, which has previously tussled with Google and Microsoft's MSN, has been leading the battle against search engines that publish news articles and photos via their news aggregators and search engine results. The group argues that the practice violates copyright laws, even if sites link to the publisher's website.

When it comes to Yahoo!, Copiepresse objects to "the display of archived results" on Yahoo! France's site, according to the number two search engine, which said in an emailed statement it "respects the copyright of content owners", and that it would respond "appropriately" to the Belgian organisation.

Microsoft, since being contacted by Copiepresse, has been working out an agreement to remove certain links from its Live Search engine to French- and German-language Belgian newspapers.

In September, a court ordered Google to remove its Copiepresse results. Google removed the content from its Google.be and Google News sites but it has filed an appeal, according to its official blog.

Copiepresse isn't the only news organisation to take issue with search engines posting its content. The third-largest news agency in the world, Agence France-Presse, has sued Google for copyright violations.

Candace Lombardi writes for CNET News.com