Battle Brewing: Microsoft v. Google
As reported in Technology Daily's AM edition, Microsoft's associate general counsel is expected to criticize Google's "cavalier approach to copyright" law in a speech later today at an Association of American Publishers meeting.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft's Thomas Rubin plans to say that Google got "unfettered access" to various libraries for its book-scanning effort then "turned its back on its partners" by making copies of books without obtaining copyright holders' permission.
Ed Black, who heads the Computer and Communications Industry Association, couldn't resist chiming in on the brawl between his members. "I cannot overlook Microsoft's unfortunate mischaracterization of copyright law," he said in a statement.
"Contrary to Microsoft’s suggestion, every unauthorized use of a copyrighted work is not infringement," Black said. "Highly transformative copies, such as those made by search engines like Google and Microsoft’s own MSN, or those made by Microsoft’s software programmers when reverse-engineering competitors’ products, are fair use under copyright law."
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