Frenchman sues Google over streetview image of him urinating in yard

Melbourne, Mar 3 (ANI): A French man is taking legal action against Google for making him the butt of jokes in his village after the company's Street View service put on the internet a picture of him urinating in his garden, his lawyer has said.

"He discovered the existence of this photo after noticing that he had become an object of ridicule," the Herald Sun quoted lawyer Jean-Noel Bouillaud as saying.

The slightly hazy picture shows an individual relieving himself in a garden in the village in the west-central Maine-et-Loire department.

"My client lives in a tiny hamlet where everyone recognised him," Bouillaud said.

He further said that his client was on his own property and the gate to his garden was closed at the time the photo was taken.

The man is suing the internet giant in a court in the city of Angers for infringement of his privacy and of his right not to have his photo published without his accord.

He also wants the offending photograph to be withdrawn from the site.

Google's lawyer, Christophe Bigot, said the lawsuit against his company was "implausible."

Street View allows users to take a ground level panoramic view of some locations on Google Maps, based on still photographs taken by specially equipped vehicles. (ANI)