Google Inc. (GOOG) Reaches $82M Deal With French Publishers

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) reached this deal in the wake of losing a court battle with French-language publishers in Belgium, which filed suit claiming that Google had no right to grab snippets of its news content for Google News without permission or compensation. The court agreed, and a six-year battle ended when the two sides came to an agreement in December where the publishers will get access to Google’s advertising, and Google would then be included on the publishers’ media.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) also had a run-in with French citizens surrounding Street View. Google admitted that while its camera traveled around several European countries, collecting photographs for its Google Maps feature, it had collected personal information from local wi-fi networks – including emails, passwords and browsing histories – over a three-year period ending in 2010.

What do you think about this deal? Who do you think was right in this dispute – the French publishers or Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)? How will this affect Google over the coming months? We’d like your feedback in the comments section below.

DISCLOSURE: I own no positions in any stock mentioned.

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