HAMBURG, Germany—A German court ruled yesterday that Google must get permission from the owner or creator of an artwork before displaying it in a search, United Press International reports via Deutsche Welle. Comic artist Thomas Horn and photographer Michael Bernhard had filed a suit against the company, protesting its use of thumbnail reproductions of their work.

"It doesn't matter that the thumbnails are much smaller than original pictures and are displayed in lower a resolution," said the court.

Google plans to appeal the ruling. A spokeswoman for the company told the Hamburger Abendblatt that the decision "catapults us into the digital Stone Age."