Microsoft slams Google over global copyright

NEW YORK - SOFTWARE giant Microsoft has prepared a blistering attack on rival Google, accusing the Web search leader of taking a cavalier approach to copyright protection.

The censure by top Microsoft lawyer Tom Rubin came as the two corporate titans step up their competition in both software and online content.

But Google won support from the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), which charged that Microsoft had given an 'unfortunate mischaracterisation' of copyright law that was outdated in the digital age.

Google 'appears to be trying wherever possible to skirt copyright law's boundaries', Mr Rubin, Microsoft's associate general counsel for intellectual property, wrote in a Financial Times opinion piece.

His remarks were a foretaste of a speech he was making in New York on Tuesday to the Association of American Publishers. Google has already said its practices generate more earnings for authors and publishers.

Mr Rubin wrote that Microsoft is working 'to collaborate with copyright holders in developing technologies' so as to uphold copyright, 'without which no artist or writer - and no society that aspires to a living culture - can thrive.' Google, in contrast, was accused of a 'unilateralist approach' by scanning books 'by the truckload' without the permission of writers or publishers. In 2005, Google launched a controversial project to digitise millions of books on the shelves of libraries around the world.

Mr Rubin called Google's goal of compiling a vast database of indexed literature, accessible from anywhere, 'a worthy goal'.

But he stressed: 'This project may well bring significant commercial advantage to Google. By contrast, those who own the copyrights in these works would gain little or nothing from Google's plan.'

The Microsoft lawyer noted that Google faces a copyright minefield following its acquisition of the fast-growing video-sharing website YouTube.

'Companies that create no content of their own, and make money solely on the back of other people's content, are raking in billions through advertising revenue and initial public offers,' said Mr Rubin. 'Google takes the position that everything may be freely copied unless the copyright owner notifies Google and tells it to stop.'

And he dismissed the Internet company's justification of its book scanning as 'fair use' under US copyright law, calling it a 'novel' interpretation that would stretch to countries where the fair use concept is not even recognised.

Agence France-Presse has sued Google in both France and the United States, alleging that the Internet search engine includes the agency's headlines, news summaries and photographs without permission on its 'Google News' portal.

Last month, a court in Belgium ruled against Google in a similar copyright case brought by Belgian newspapers.

CCIA president Ed Black, however, said Microsoft and others had to update their thinking in an era where content is fast shifting from print to the online world.

'Microsoft would do well to consider that its own business depends on fair use before brushing aside that important doctrine,' he also said, noting that Microsoft's software programmers were covered by this protection 'when reverse-engineering competitors' products'.

Both Google and Microsoft are members of the CCIA.

Mr David Drummond, Google's senior vice-president for corporate development and its chief legal officer, said in response that Google worked with more than 10,000 publishing partners to make books searchable online and had recently added the BBC and the National Basketball Association as YouTube video partners.

'We do this by complying with international copyright laws,' he said.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS