Associated Press Going After Blogger for Posting Story Snippets

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://techdirt.com/articles/20080613/0117561394.shtml' target='_blank'>http://techdirt.com/articles/200806...117561394.shtml</a><br /><br /></div><em>&quot;Last fall, the Associated Press claimed that it was ready to change to face the new internet world -- and that meant not just being a gatekeeper, but joining in the conversation. As we noted at the time, though, AP execs said all that, only to immediately follow that up with plans that looked like it was trying to become a new type of gatekeeper. It didn't help that the company had also just sued VeriSign's Moreover division for linking to AP stories along with a title and a tiny excerpt. That sort of thing is clearly fair use -- but the AP doesn't seem to think so. And, now, it's expanding its target list. Rather than just going after the big aggregators (surprisingly, Google settled), it appears that the Associated Press is going after bloggers for merely posting a linked headline and a tiny snippet of text from the article.&quot;</em><br /><br />This has to be one of the most idiotic things I've seen this year - a news company like the AP suing people for using short content snippets and linking to the story. Note that they didn't target Web sites who were ripping off the stories in full, or even sites that were using quotes but not linking back to the story - both examples of legitimate gripes on the part of the AP. Nope, they chose to go after a site that was doing something that is the backbone of content on the Web today: pulling a short quote and linking to the story where you got the quote from.<br /><br />I'm really disappointed that Google settled - that would have emboldened the AP to a huge degree, because quoting snippets of AP text and linking to the story. In fact, it's probably not a stretch to say that when Google settled it probably convinced some AP lawyer that if they got the mighty Google to bow to their threats, a bunch of bloggers would be no problem. They're going to realize how incredibly wrong they were within a few weeks, or perhaps a few months if they're especially thick-headed.<br /><br />There's some further coverage over on <a target="_blank" href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/16/heres-our-new-policy-on-ap-stories-theyre-banned/">TechCrunch</a> and <a target="_blank" href="http://www.buzzmachine.com/2008/06/16/ap-hole-dig/">BuzzMachine</a>, and I'm going to follow Michael Arrington's lead by implementing a new policy on all the Thoughts Media sites: we're going to avoid linking to <em>any</em> Associated Press story until they reverse their idiotic stance.

[David Tucker]

Funny thing is...I can see Google more likely to cow to a demand like that since they've made the status of "Big Company" and that's what "Big Companies" do. The legions of bloggers though...man, AP don't want to mess with us! :eek:

[Sven Johannsen]

Does AP have advertisers on their site? Shame I won't be seeing any of the ads, as there won't be any links to their pages, and there is no other way I would likely get there.

[Zunerama]

Right on, Jason, and well said. This is lunacy. An excerpt and a link is not plagiarism, it's an avenue for inbound traffic to AP.

It's a bizarre reaction from the "old media".

[wesk]

With the Internet the way it is today, we don't have to depend on AP for our news. Their lose, our gain! :D


Wes

[virain]

I guess not many people visiting AP these days, so AP decided to make some noise. ;)

[jgrnt1]

Here's a funny (and sad) article at Teleread about ficticious AP guidelines. Funny because it starts plausibly and just keeps going. Sad because it may not be far off the mark. There is another, later article on the site detailing AP licensing guidelines:

$12.50 for 5-25 excerpted words, unless it is for educational or non-profit use, in which case the fee drops to $7.50.

(http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/06/16/aps-new-fair-use-guidelines-for-the-grassroots-in-keeping-with-wire-services-respect-for-civic-involvement/#comments)AP’s new fair use guidelines for the grassroots—in keeping with wire service’s respect for civic involvement | TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home (http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/06/16/aps-new-fair-use-guidelines-for-the-grassroots-in-keeping-with-wire-services-respect-for-civic-involvement/)

[edgar]

AP, blogger resolve copyright dispute

<!--subtitle--><!--byline-->The Associated Press
<!--date-->Article Launched: 06/21/2008 01:36:38 AM PDT



http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_9657249?source=rss

[onlydarksets]

AP, blogger resolve copyright dispute

<!--subtitle--><!--byline-->The Associated Press
<!--date-->Article Launched: 06/21/2008 01:36:38 AM PDT



http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_9657249?source=rss
That's laughable:
In response, the AP said it was working to develop guidelines for what it considered permissible use of its content by bloggers.

The AP doesn't get to decide what "fair use" is. That's the whole point - otherwise it would be a license. Idiots.