Internet giant Google and its chief executive Eric Schmidt have been convicted of defaming a Frenchman through its "suggest" search function.

The man, who was not identified for legal reasons, sued Google, claiming the words "rapist", "rape", "prison" and "satanist" were suggested when his name was typed into the company's web search portal, a French legal website revealed.

The man had been convicted of corrupting a minor and sentenced to three years' jail, but was still considered innocent under French law because he was appealing against his sentence, London's Telegraph reported.

Google argued it was not liable for the defamation, as it used algorithms that reflected the most common terms used in the past with words that were entered, and so did not involve Google making the suggestions itself.

But a Paris court found this month that the technology company was guilty of the "public slandering of a private individual".