EDIT

package org.cybertaxonomy.utis.utils;

import java.io.BufferedReader;

import java.io.FileInputStream;

import java.io.FileNotFoundException;

import java.io.FileReader;

import java.io.IOException;

import java.io.InputStreamReader;

import java.net.URL;

public class UtilFactory {

	public static BufferedReader getReader (String fileUrl, String encoding) throws IOException {

		InputStreamReader reader;

		try {

			if (encoding == null) {

				reader = new FileReader(fileUrl);

			} else {

				reader = new InputStreamReader(new FileInputStream(fileUrl),encoding); 

			}

		}

		catch (FileNotFoundException e) {

			// try a real URL instead

			URL url = new URL(fileUrl);

			if (encoding == null) {

				reader = new InputStreamReader (url.openStream());

			} else {

				reader = new InputStreamReader (url.openStream(), encoding);

			}

		}

		return new BufferedReader(reader);

	}

}