CCIA President Ed Black Comments on Microsoft Attacks on Google

File Under: 2007, AntiTrust, News

Mar 6, 2007

Commenting o­n the recent attacks against Google by Microsoft associate general counsel Tom Rubin in a Financial Times op-ed, CCIA President Ed Black made the following statement:

"While I normally avoid commenting o­n disputes between members, I cannot overlook Microsoft’s unfortunate mischaracterization of copyright law. Contrary to Microsoft’s suggestion, every unauthorized use of a copyrighted work is not infringement. 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. Microsoft would do well to consider that its own business depends o­n fair use before brushing aside that important doctrine," Black said.

"Copyright practice currently labors under an oppressive ‘permission culture’ in which every unauthorized use of a work is viewed as a potential violation of the law," Black added. "This distorted view of the law undermines access to information, is hostile to innovation, and most importantly – is not accurate. The copyright monopoly is a limited o­ne, and it must stay that way if it is to continue to promote progress."