In a finale to one very significant copyright case against Google News, AFP (Agence France Presse) and Google have settled the two-year long copyright lawsuit, clearing the decks for Google to post AFP content on Google News and other such services.

The agreement will allow AFP headlines and photographs to be once again made available on Google News, Google Actualites, the French version of Google News, and other Google services.

Chairman and Chief Executive of AFP, Pierre Louette, said the agreement will allow uses of AFP content in ways that go beyond the typical which is featuring only headlines and snippets of text.

It was two years ago that AFP filed the lawsuit, accusing Google of copyright infringement for posting AFP content without prior permission on Google News. The suit sought compensation from Google, as also to bar further use of AFP content on Google without express permission from the news agency.

The media has been closely watching the lawsuit - for any implications a ruling might have on the industry in general.

Two years ago, after AFP slapped a lawsuit against Google, Copiepresse that manages copyrights for a variety of Belgian newspapers, followed suit.

In February this year, a Belgian court ruled that Google must stop reproducing headlines from Belgian newspapers, else face fines. A Copiepresse executive even said they would consider allowing Google display extracts from Belgian newspapers - for a fee, and that too if Google approached them first...

It remains to be seen how the AFP-Google agreement influences any ruling in the Copiepresse affair...

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