As his company generates millions from newslinks via Google News, the search giant's boss Eric Schmidt has stated that the majority of newspapers should be online.

Many believe that Google should pay to use their content, and the Associated Press is set to sue Google due to the printed news industry's dwindling circulation figures thanks to non-paying web readers.

With the intellectual property rights hanging in the balance of the legal loophole known as "fair use", the battle looks set to continue for many years.