[A2k] BBC: Microsoft attacks Google on books

[Michelle Childs]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6422471.stm

Last Updated: Tuesday, 6 March 2007, 10:56 GMT

Microsoft attacks Google on books

Microsoft is to launch an attack on Google, saying the search giant's
rival book-scanning service "systematically violates copyright".

Since December, Microsoft's project - Live Search Books - has allowed
users to access certain publications which were no longer under
copyright.

However, Google allows snippets of copyrighted works to be seen on
the web on its Google Books Search.

A Microsoft lawyer will say Google is cutting into authors' profits.

'Raking in billions"
Google plans to scan millions of books and journals from libraries
around the world and make them available.

However, Microsoft lawyer Thomas Rubin will say in a speech that by
doing this without seeking permission, Google has left itself wide
open to the accusation of copyright infringement.

"Companies that create no content of their own, and make money solely
on the backs of other people's content, are raking in billions
through advertising revenue and IPOs," Mr Rubin will tell a meeting
of the Association of American publishers in New York on Tuesday.

"Google takes the position that everything may be freely copied
unless the copyright owner notifies Google and tells it to stop."

Mr Rubin will say that the acquisition of You Tube - which has
featured large amounts of copyrighted material - showed Google's
track record of protecting copyrights in other parts of its business
was "weak" at best.

"Anyone who visits YouTube, which Google purchased last year, will
immediately recognize that it follows a similar cavalier approach to
copyright," he said.

Rivalries intensifying

The publishers' group - along with a writers' trade body, the
Authors' Guild - is involved in a long-running legal action against
Google.

Google defended its position, saying it complied with international
copyright laws when it helped its users find information and that it
worked with more than 10,000 partners to make books searchable online.

"The result has been more exposure and in many cases, more revenue
for authors, publishers and producers of content," said Google's
chief legal officer David Drummond.

Rivalries between Microsoft and Google are intensifying.

Microsoft has stepped up its internet search business while Google is
making web-based software such as word processing, spreadsheets and
email available in competition to Microsoft's off-the-shelf software.