Belgian press beef with EU beaten in Belgian court

BELGIAN NEWSPAPER association Copiepresse had its legal complaint against the EU Commission thrown out of a Belgian court last Thursday.

Copiepresse had sued the EU Commission for linking to its members' news articles in the Commission's Media Monitor news collation and analysis system without requesting their permission.

The EU Commission, in its own defence, argued that its use of the news stories fell under the fair use copyright exception permitted under EU law for press commentary.

The Belgian Court of Seizures threw out the Copiepresse complaint on jurisdictional grounds.

Copiepresse said it won't appeal the court's decision "for strategic reasons " but will instead try to move its cause forward in civil court. Well, we guess it can try that.

The court's lack of sympathy for Copiepresse's complaint against the EU Commission's news aggregator hints that Copiepresse might not ultimately prevail in its similar legal case against Google. µ

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