Google will appeal German court ruling on orgy pix

Google says it will appeal a German court's decision that it must block search results linking to images of an orgy involving ex-Formula One chief Max Mosley.

Google, which is already appealing a similar ruling last year from a French court, said Friday the Hamburg state court verdict would set "a disturbing precedent."

The court ruled that the pictures of Mosley were damaging to him, regardless of the context in which they were displayed.

Google argues the ruling is overly broad, and ordering the automatic removal of the images could end up having a chilling effect by also censoring legitimate speech.

It says it is happy to remove pages from search results that violate the law.

Mosley acknowledges the 2008 orgy, though has successfully won privacy violation suits.