Microsoft Critical of Google’s Attitude to Content Protection

NEW YORK, March 6: Tom Rubin, the associate general counsel
for copyright, trademark and trade secrets at Microsoft, gave a speech to the
Association of American Publishers today criticizing Google’s “cavalier”
attitude towards copyright protection.

“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,” Rubin said, while “authors and
publishers often find it difficult just to cover their costs, let alone make a
profit, in this new online world.”

As content owners move online, Rubin said that a key
principle to keep in mind is that new services that expand online access to
content “must respect the legitimate interests of copyright holders; put
conversely, we must forcefully reject any business model that is based on the
systematic infringement of copyrights.”

Rubin continued: “Google argues that authors and publishers
should simply notify Google if they want to preserve their rights in their
works. But what if, as is inevitable, other companies around the world start
taking the same approach? Should copyright owners be obligated to track down
everyone engaging in unauthorized copying in order to preserve their exclusive
rights in their works? … In essence, Google is saying to you and to other
copyright owners: ‘Trust us—you’re protected. We’ll keep the digital
copies secure, we’ll only show snippets, we won’t harm you, we’ll promote you.’
But Google’s track record of protecting copyrights in other parts of its
business is weak at best. Anyone who visits YouTube, which Google purchased
last year, will immediately recognize that it follows a similar cavalier
approach to copyright. Since YouTube’s inception, television companies, movie
studios and record labels have all complained that the site knowingly tolerates
piracy. In the face of YouTube’s refusal to take any effective action,
copyright owners have now been forced to resort to litigation. And Google has
yet to come up with a plan to restrain the massive infringements on YouTube.”

Rubin also accused Google of encouraging the use of
“keywords and advertising text referring to illegal copies of music and movies.
These actions bolstered websites dedicated to piracy and reportedly netted
Google around $800,000 in advertising revenues from just four such pirate
sites. These are not the actions of a company that has the interests of
copyright owners as one of its priorities.”