Microsoft is being targeted by the organisation that won a court battle with Google over the reproduction of newspaper content.
The software giant is in talks with Copiepresse, the organisation that manages the copyright for the French and German-speaking press in Belgium, after receiving a "cease and desist" letter stating it should remove its newspaper content from the MSN website.
Copiepresse - which represents some of Belgium's best known newspapers, including Le Soir and Le Libre - last month won a court ruling to get Google to remove its newspaper content from its website.
"Microsoft confirms that it has received a cease and desist letter from CopiePresse and is in the process of reviewing it," the company said in a statement.
"Until that process is complete, we cannot comment any further."
CopiePresse argues that search engine companies are profiting unfairly by posting content from its members' newspapers on their sites, where they often sell advertising.
Although no resolution has yet been reached with MSN, one possible solution Copiepresse is interested in is to share ad revenue that appears around the content.
In the legal wrangle with Google, the search engine complied with the court ruling to remove the content but has appealed and is set to argue its case on November 24.
Google has argued that the court case and associated costs were entirely avoidable as the search engine company's policy is to remove any newspaper's content from its index if asked.
Google is facing a similar lawsuit by French news agency Agence France-Presse, which is also seeking monetary damages.
Similar cases in Germany and the Netherlands not involving Google have found in favour of internet sites linking to copyrighted content.
