A Belgian court has ordered Google Inc. to stop publishing content from Belgian newspapers without permission or payment of fees. Google spokeswoman Rachel Whetstone said the news service is "entirely consistent" with copyright law and benefits news organizations by referring traffic to their sites.

She added that the Belgian newspapers did not need to take the case to court be

cause Google lets any news organization decline to participate upon request. Google has removed the Belgian newspapers from its Belgium index and is in the process of removing them from its global index, she said. Reuters