BEIJING, March 7 (Xinhuanet) -- Microsoft, which is increasingly competing with Google in business software and other areas, accused the Silicon Valley giant of a "cavalier" attitude to copyright, media reported on Wednesday.

    Thomas Rubin, Microsoft's associate general counsel, told an audience of book publishers on Tuesday that Google "systematically violates copyright" law.

    Rubin singled out Google Book Search and YouTube for specific criticism, saying the services take a "cavalier approach to copyright."

    "Google takes the position that everything may be freely copied unless the copyright owner notifies Google and tells it to stop."

    "Anyone who visits YouTube, which Google purchased in 2006, will immediately recognise that it follows a similar cavalier approach to copyright," he said.

    The audience was an unusually receptive one: the Association of American Publishers, which filed a lawsuit against Google in October 2005 claiming that the search giant violated copyright law by scanning and distributing books protected under copyright law. A trial will not take place before next year.

    The accusations come as Google faces legal pressure from a slew of media companies over the way in which it uses books, video and news on its website.

    Many argue that providing snippets of information in these areas supports Google's advertising business without giving a fair portion of profit to the content creators.

    A recent ruling in the Belgian courts found that Google was unfairly reproducing stories from newspapers on its news aggregation service, and it is also embroiled in lawsuits brought by the Authors Guild and other publishers for digitising books for the internet without permission.

    The accusations are the strongest salvo in an increasingly bitter war between Google and the Seattle-based giant, founded by Bill Gates 32 years ago. (Agencies)