Google's Tuesday-launched campaign against a proposed German copyright law - the Leistungsschutzrecht für Presseverleger, or 'ancillary copyright for press publishers' - has been condemned by the senior politicians in the country.

According to the German politicians, Google's move to a petition against the copyright proposals is a `propaganda' which the company has resorted to, for mobilizing public opinion against proposed law which will allow publishers to seek payments from search engine providers for displaying newspaper articles in their search results.

The campaign against the proposed legislation by Google - which has raised objections against the Leistungsschutzrecht earlier also - was launched by Google with the help of advertisements in German newspapers as well as a web information site, `Defend your web'; with the arguments that the law will make it difficult for Internet users to retrieve information.

The Google campaign against the proposed law has apparently offended some members of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right coalition because they have been arguing that the law will help newspaper publishers to gain from the ad revenues which search engines generate by using their content.

Terming Google's campaign as "propaganda," conservative lawmakers Guenter Krings and Ansgar Heveling said in a recent statement: "Under the guise of a supposed project for the freedom of the Internet, an attempt is being made (by Google) to coopt its users for its own lobbying."