Microsoft counsel bags Google book search

By Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 07 March 2007 02:44

Your IT - Home IT

Google Book Search "systematically violates copyright and deprives authors and publishers of an important avenue for monetising their works," a Microsoft lawyer has claimed.

In a prepared address to the annual meeting of the Association of American Publishers, Thomas Rubin - Microsoft's associate general counsel for copyright, trademark and trade secrets - repeatedly criticised Google's activities in this area.

Rubin suggested "three simple principles [that] can help us make the right choices": expansion of access to online content, respect for the legitimate interests of copyright holders, and cooperation in order to provide consumer-friendly, cost-effective online access to content.

While Google's goal is to make every book ever published searchable, "Google's broader business model is straightforward – attract as many users as possible to its site by providing what it considers to be 'free' content, then monetize that content by selling ads," he said.

Rubin also claimed that despite acquiring rights to certain books from various publishers, "in late 2004 Google basically turned its back on its partners. Concocting a novel 'fair use' theory, Google bestowed upon itself the unilateral right to make entire copies of copyrighted books not covered by these publisher agreements without first obtaining the copyright holder’s permission."

The approach adopted by Google "undermines critical incentives to create", he added.

What's Microsoft doing differently?