News : Yahoo Refuses to Help Google in Book Case

Google will not be receiving any help from Yahoo in the case brought against it by the Author's Guild, the Associated Press reports.

Calling the company's subpoena an attempt to force it to divulge trade secrets, Yahoo said Thursday that it has refused to testify. A 17-page rejection letter was sent to Google last week, and Yahoo's reasoning sounds a lot like that of Amazon, which rejected a subpoena in October.

Amazon also accused Google of similar ulterior motives, and directed it to information on book search methods that are available publicly on the Web. The information requested was "highly confidential," it claimed.

"There is simply no need for Google to be peering into the minds and computers of Yahoo employees," the AP quotes the document as saying.

Google is fighting a lawsuit brought against it by the Authors Guild in September 2005. In that suit, the group accuses the search giant of "massive copyright infringement," and alleges that Google never approached them for permission to index their books.

In its defense, Google points to the fact it has set up a system for authors and publishers to opt out of the index. It would also direct users to purchase the full book if they would require more information than the search function provides.

One subpoena is pending against Microsoft. In addition, Google has requests out to several other smaller companies, the AP reported. However, Google is not discussing the case with the media.