Google battle sparks debate

Copyright squabbles in Europe and the US would make life uncomfortable for Google if they transferred to UK

Google would have to make adjustments if UK laws European and US-style lawsuits emerged in the UK

Google could lose its right to cache copyrighted content if its current legal battles were ever to take place in UK courts.

“The exceptions under copyright law that would protect Google in the UK are not as generous as they are in the US. If Google were to lose a similar case here, it is likely that many UK news items would disappear from Google News,” said Frank Jennings, associate at DMH Stallard.

“The cached copy function would disappear from Google searches and Google would pay damages for its infringements.”

Google is fighting a case in Belgium against publisher Copiepresse over use of content in Google news, and how it caches content in its search engine.