Google taking a hit on international fair use

We law students love to talk about fair use, though I confess that for many of us it's a substantially academic concern. Not so for Google, which is driven almost entirely by fair use. The search engine, the excerpts that appear beneath search results, the Google cache, Google Groups, Google News -- all have substantial fair use components. It's probably not overstating the case to say that without fair use Google wouldn't exist. Then again, fair use being what it is, litigation is inevitable. The issue here is Google's new Hong Kong-oriented Google News. At least one publisher is contesting Google's incorporation of their news in the service. Now, I have no idea what Hong Kong's copyright law is -- if it still reflects the administration of the Crown, then I guess it may have some kind of fair use built in. But this is a great example of how the jurisdictional patchwork we have out there can really complicate online services.