A federal judge has decided to postpone a ruling on Google's request to dismiss a case against it by a French news agency alleging copyright infringement on the part of Google News.

U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler yesterday said she was not yet ready to rule on Google's request to dismiss the case brought by Agence France-Presse, the worlds oldest news agency, reports CNET. She gave both sides more time to reconstruct Google News pages from randomly selected dates in 2003 and 2004 - information needed because AFP is required to provide specific instances of infringement.

Google's attorneys have also argued that because AFP has not, after more than a year, identified the photographs and articles at issue, the case should be thrown out.

AFP claims Google News unlawfully incorporated AFP photographs, headlines and excerpts from the beginning of articles - and removed photo credits and copyright notices. Google says AFP's headlines are not "original and creative" enough, and therefore not protected under copyright law.