London : Google will set out plans to close down its Chinese search engine after refusing to comply with China's strict censorship laws.
The company is expected to announce the closure of google.cn by as early as April 10 after the Chinese government refused to acquiesce to demands that it stop self-censorship of the site. It is understood that Google will continue to operate other services in the country and will maintain its research and development operations.
The technology giant surprised the multi-billion pound digital industry in January when it told China that it would pull out of the country unless it was allowed to present uncensored search results.
In an official blog post from Google's chief legal officer, David Drummond, it said: "We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all.
"We recognise that this may well mean having to shut down google.cn and potentially our offices in China."
Sophisticated attack
Google also accused the Chinese authorities of a "highly sophisticated and targeted" attack of its email system and its customers' email accounts.
It is understood that Sergey Brin, who founded Google with Larry Page while the pair were students at Stanford University, has been personally involved with the investigation into the attacks and the decision to withdraw from China.
Reports from China said Google will compensate the division's employees following the closure.
Google refused to comment this weekend on the timing of the shutdown.
Legal battle
Google will hit the headlines again tomorrow when legal experts say it should win the latest round of its long legal battle with the handbag and luggage maker, Louis Vuitton.
LVMH, the group behind Louis Vuitton, Moet et Chandon and Dom Perignon champagne, has accused Google of profiteering from its success by selling the rights to its trademark to discount retailers or even counterfeiters. LVMH claims the practice confuses customers and tarnishes its hard-won reputation.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) is set to rule that Google can continue to sell the rights to sponsored searches using brands' trademarks to rival companies.
The ECJ, which was passed the case by the French courts which had earlier found in favour of LVHM, has indicated that it will find in Google's favour when it delivers the landmark judgement in Luxembourg on Tuesday.
Poiares Maduro, the court's advocate general, said: "Google has not infringed trademark rights by allowing advertisers to buy keywords corresponding to registered trademarks."
Maduro said that typing in a brand name as a keyword was not a breach of trademark law because "no product or service was being sold to the general public".
Lawyers say that although the ECJ is likely to find in Google's favour, the ruling will not completely absolve the company and might lead to a flood of fresh litigation.
