Google CEO Eric Schmidt on Tuesday shrugged off criticism from rivals and some media companies over its approach to copyrighted content, dismissing those comments as a negotiation tactic, reports the Financial Times.

Tom Rubin, associate general counsel for Microsoft, earlier this week accused Google of exploiting books, music, films and television programs without permission.

Shmidt fired back that in the media industry "the way one negotiates is everything is leaked and you're sued to death. So the lawsuits…appear to be in the course of doing normal business," he said, adding this might reflect the preponderance of lawyers in the media industry. "It is not normal in the technology industry, I can assure you."

Among the companies facing difficult negotiations with Google are Viacom, CBS and NBC Universal. The discussion started last year after Google paid $1.6 billion to acquire video-sharing siteYouTube, on which some users post illegally copied videos.