MUMBAI: While in India copyright is sometimes interpreted as the right to copy, abroad this issue is taken very seriously! This piece of news is a case in point.

French news service Agence France Presse (AFP) which asks charges users for browsing through content is suing search engine Google for copyright infringement.

In its suit AFP stated, "Without AFP's authorisation the defendant is continuously and willfully reproducing and publicly displaying AFP's photographs, headlines and story leads on its Google News web pages."

Media reports indicate that AFP is seeking damages of $17.5 million. It also wants to prevent Google from using any of its content in the future. AFP filed the lawsuit in US Federal Court for the District of Columbia.

Content by AFP is sold by subscription and is not available for free. Google News scours news services for latest breaking news items from thousands of sources around the world and subsequently posts links to them on its news site.

Google News however does not publish the news articles and only shows a thumbnail image for related news items. In the suit, AFP alleges that Google ignored it's request to cease and desist from infringing its copyrighted work.

The Paris headquartered AFP has bureaus around the world. It supplies its news services to various kinds of media, including electronic. It has 600 online clients.