Mumbai: A Brussels court has ordered internet search giant Google to pay a fine of €25,000 ($32,500) a day for violating of copyright laws by publishing links to Belgian newspapers without permission.

The Brussels Court of First Instance also ordered Google to remove all Belgian news content, setting a precedent for future cases in Europe. There's ``no exception' for Google in copyright law, the court said.

Mountain View, California-based Google said it has already removed the content and will appeal the ruling. However, for now, the case may restrict free copying of newspaper content on internet sites in Europe.

The ruling came on a petition filed by Copiepresse, a group representing 17 French-and German-language newspapers, including La Libre Belgique and Le Soir.

The newspapers argued that Google shouldn't be allowed to link to their content for free.

Google will have to reach a deal with newspapers to link content. ``There is a tendency for Google to use things for free and reach a deal later,' said a lawyer.

The daily fine imposed on Google has retrospective effect, dating back to 139 days when the search engine was first asked to remove the content, a lawyer for Copiepresse said.

Google last year postponed plans for a Danish news site after newspapers complained. In 2005 French news agency AFP sued Google for linking to its content for free.

The newspapers have also threatened legal action against Microsoft Corporation and Yahoo! Inc. if they continue to use their stories.