With Google and book publishers embroiled in a legal drama, Microsoft Corp. is entering the plot with an approach more likely to be found in a romance novel. Microsoft's MSN unit is working on its own service for searching the contents of books online -- trailing rival Google once again, but hoping this time to avoid a major challenge encountered by the Internet search leader.

Microsoft says its MSN Book Search project will differ from Google's by scanning copyrighted books only after working out deals in advance with the copyright holders.
The Microsoft project, announced Tuesday night, puts the Redmond company on the side of traditional book publishers in one of the key conflicts of the emerging digital age.
Google, under a deal with several major libraries, plans to scan and index copyrighted books unless the copyright owner opts out. Google defends the Google Print Library project as legal and says the search service -- displaying only small snippets of text from copyrighted books -- will actually encourage book sales.

But many book publishers and authors aren't convinced that the Google initiative is a good thing in the long run. Two groups have sued Google over the project, alleging that the plan infringes on their rights under copyright law.

It remains to be seen whether Microsoft's alternative approach will be successful. For starters, the company hasn't yet reached any deals with publishers. However, Yahoo is taking a similar approach, and publishers appear to be far more open to the concept Yahoo and Microsoft are proposing.

"The author or the publisher can decide if what Microsoft is offering is good for them," said Pat Schroeder, president of the Association of American Publishers, which represents five publishing companies that filed suit over Google's initiative last week. The Authors Guild had previously filed a similar lawsuit.

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