War on words

The United States' biggest book publishers are taking the Google Internet search engine to court, charging that the web wizard's plan to scan their products and put them online (see Nature 433, 446; 200510.1038/433446a) would breach copyright rules. The Association of American Publishers filed suit in the US District Court in New York on behalf of five major publishers, including McGraw-Hill and John Wiley, after talks with Google broke down. In a statement, the California-based company called the suit “short-sighted”.

TB drive

A foundation backed by Microsoft boss Bill Gates has announced a partnership with drug manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline to expedite trials of a tuberculosis vaccine. GSK Biologicals of Rixensart, Belgium, is already conducting clinical trials of a recombinant protein vaccine that seems to induce strong, long-lasting immunity to the disease. The Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation will provide up to $13 million over two years to help speed up the trials. Last year the foundation, which aims to develop an effective vaccine for tuberculosis within ten years, received $83 million from the Seattle-based Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to support its work.

Fraud squad

A subsidiary of the Swiss biotechnology company Serono is to pay the US government $704 million to resolve criminal charges and civil allegations related to fraudulent marketing of Serostim, a drug that treats the wasting induced by AIDS. Serono has pleaded guilty and last week agreed to pay a $137-million criminal fine and $567 million to settle civil allegations that it defrauded the Medicaid programme for poor people and the Medicare health insurance scheme by using illegal means to boost sales of Serostim between 1996 and 2004. The settlement is the largest ever in a Medicaid fraud case.