“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 I.P.O.s,” said Thomas Rubin, of Microsoft’s Associate General Counsel, who oversees copyright and trade-secret law.

“Google takes the position that everything may be freely copied unless the copyright owner notifies Google and tells it to stop,” said Rubin.

As opposed to Microsoft who asks for copyright permission first…

Most of these comments refer to lawsuits filed against Google by newspaper publishers in Belgium or a US lawsuit filed by book publishers and the Association of American Publishers.

David Drummond, Google’s senior vice president for corporate development, responded by saying that Google partnered over 10,000 publishers to make books searchable online.

“We do this by complying with international copyright laws,” said Drummond, “and the result has been more exposure and in many cases more revenue for authors, publishers and producers of content.”

Why did Microsoft choose to open fire on Google now?  It is doubtful that either company’s main stake here is in compensating ‘forlorn publishers’. There are probably strategic reasons for such a decision, as these comments will certainly inflame both camps.

Source: NY Times