News organizations settle suit against Web sites

businessweek.com ^ | July 25, 2008 | The Associated Press

[Jim Robinson]

Several newspapers and The Associated Press have settled a copyright infringement lawsuit against the operator of a collection of Web sites, the news organizations announced Friday.

The Police News Publishing Co., Breck Porter and six affiliated Web sites had been accused of accessing the news content of the organizations without their authorization and posting it on the Web sites, where advertising appears. The content was then archived; the archiving, publication, distribution and display of the content all violated the news organizations' copyright, according to the suit.

Porter, of Galveston, was the editor of the various Web sites.

In addition to the AP, the other plaintiffs were the Houston Chronicle, The Beaumont Enterprise, the San Antonio Express-News, as well as Hearst Corp., which owns all three of those papers. The Galveston County Daily News, The Brazosport Facts, The Baytown Sun and The Tribune of Bay City were also plaintiffs in the case.

Under a settlement agreement, Porter and his Web sites will only be able to copy the headline and up to the first two sentences of any stories from the newspapers. The Web sites can copy and publish only headlines and the first paragraph from AP stories provided to them by the news service.

All stories used by the Web sites must be attributed to their original sources and include a copyright notice and link to the original work.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

It's very near Los Alamos and west of Santa Fe....Gorgeous country.

[BenLurkin]

Thanks.

I was wondering.

Will probably continue personal AP boycott for a little while just on GP.

[FreedomCalls]

Two sentences and a link? Got it. BTT.

The "two sentences and a link" rule is for sites that republish with advertising with intent to turn a profit. Free Republic is a "not for profit" organization and doesn't have any advertising. Still, stay within "fair use."

[Mad Dawgg]

"It appears that “Fair” is within the eye of the beholder (or whomever has the cleverest lawyer$$$)."

Spot-on!

Further I believe if the piece is exposed as being untrue and/or intended to "mislead" (Example: Dan Ra^ther Memogate) then such is considered NOT "fair" (At least by Liberals and Socialists < /redundancy > )