Microsoft attacks Google digital books plans

Microsoft delivered one the most outspoken attacks yet on Google’s sweeping legal settlement over rights to digital books in the US, as lawmakers in Washington announced their own hearings into the issue.

The software company on Tuesday condemned the proposed settlement as “an unprecedented misuse of the judicial system”.

It saidthat under the guise of resolving a narrow legal dispute it would give Google broad online rights to millions of books that were still in copyright, prejudging an issue that should be left to Congress to decide.

Echoing objections voiced both in the US and overseas, Microsoft argued in its filing that Google and the handful of publishers and authors directly involved in the settlement should not be able to use the peculiarities of the US legal system to foist a broad digital books regime on the global book industry.

It said: “A class action settlement is the wrong mechanism, this court is the wrong venue and monopolisation is the wrong means to carry out the worthy goal of digitising and increasing the accessibility of books”.

Google, for its part, has said that it also supports a change in the law to lift barriers that stand in the way of broader access to digital books.

However, Google maintains that its settlement with the book industry would at least give wide access to books that are currently confined to a handful of big research libraries.

The escalation in rhetoric came on the final day set aside by a federal judge for formal submissions on the issue before he rules on whether to let the settlement go ahead.

If approved, Google would pay $125m to book publishers and authors in return for the right to give US internet users access to segments of out-of-print books that are still in copyright, unless rights holders specifically opt out.

Revenue from selling full access to the books would be split between Google, publishers and the authors of the books.

Since it would apply to US copyright interests in all books, including those published abroad, the settlement has aroused growing interest and concern elsewhere, particularly in Europe.

In the past week both the German and French governments have also lodged complaints with the US court, claiming that the settlement would stretch the boundaries of international copyright law and give a US company excessive sway over online access to European learning and its culture.

The digital books dispute attracted greater interest in Washington, meanwhile, with the House judiciary committee calling a hearing for Thursday into the controversial issue.

The move follows a public hearing in Brussels organised by the European Commission this week.