A.P. Cracks Down on Unpaid Use of Articles on Web

New York Times ^

[Sub-Driver]

A.P. Cracks Down on Unpaid Use of Articles on Web By RICHARD PEREZ-PENA

Taking a new hard line that news articles should not turn up on search engines and Web sites without permission, The Associated Press said Thursday that it would add software to each article that shows what limits apply to the rights to use it, and that notifies The A.P. about how the article is used.

Tom Curley, The A.P.’s president and chief executive, said the company’s position was that even minimal use of a news article online required a licensing agreement with the news organization that produced it. In an interview, he specifically cited references that include a headline and a link to an article, a standard practice of search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo, news aggregators and blogs.

Asked if that stance went further than The A.P. had gone before, he said, “That’s right.” The company envisions a campaign that goes far beyond The A.P., a nonprofit corporation. It wants the 1,400 American newspapers that own the company to join the effort and use its software.

“If someone can build multibillion-dollar businesses out of keywords, we can build multihundred-million businesses out of headlines, and we’re going to do that,” Mr. Curley said. The goal, he said, was not to have less use of the news articles, but to be paid for any use.

Search engines and news aggregators contend that their brief article citations fall under the legal principle of fair use. Executives at some news organizations have said they are reluctant to test the Internet boundaries of fair use, for fear that the courts would rule against them.

Mr. Curley declined to address the fair use question, or to say what action The A.P. would take against sites that use articles without licensing.

[Sub-Driver]

what a business model..........

[pepperdog]

Hopefully this will finish them off!

[Cowboy Bob]

Its bad enough reading Propaganda when its free. Who wants to pay for Propaganda?

[Lorianne]

Good luck with that.
Their articles just won’t be cited, linked or shared.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

The A.P., a nonprofit corporation....

Holy irony, Batman!

[yldstrk]

should be the last nail in their collective coffin

[exist]

How about Universal Access to AP Articles Reform?

[Red in Blue PA]

ROFL!

[PressurePoint]

Hilarious.

"I'm going to lie to you and you're going to like it."
"Well, I don't like it."
"Okay, then I'm going to charge you for it."

[rabscuttle385]

The goal, he said, was not to have less use of the news articles, but to be paid for any use.

No, that's just a rather nasty side effect.

[RicocheT]

Allowing a headline and a link would steer business to their subscriber's page. Only allowing paying subscribers to use any part of an AP article will result in a withering of AP’s business eventually. Not a bad thing from my perspective.

[Diogenesis]

THE REAL DEAL:

AP does not want FReepers, bloggers, and posters
to reveal they are nothing but liars. Liars. Liars.

[John123]

It wants the 1,400 American newspapers that own the company to join the effort and use its software.

I don't like the sound of this...

[Luke21]

Most of what they write is synthesized propaganda, loaded with weasel words and designed for idiots. They are the first order of communist boot lickers.

Those are their good points.

[Bean Counter]

I run a small website locally that aggregates news articles from all over. I have been threatened with a lawsuit twice by the local AP outlet, on the grounds that my website constitutes “unfair competition”. They have threatened my twice and backed down both times.

I think if the local newspapers decided to try this hardline attitude that the AP is taking, it will be the final nail in the coffin for many if not most of them.

[Sudetenland]

As a blogger, the solution presents itself: paraphrase any news story written by AP you find useful and never, ever link to it no matter where you find it posted.

Let's see how their subscribed customers like the reduced amount of indirect traffic they get on the web. All of the newspapers are suffering as it is. They get on board with this it will simply further reduce the amount of traffic they get.

Sounds like a win-win solution to their biased coverage; AP and all the rest go down in flames.

[mysterio]

Following the RIAA strategy of “sue your fans.” With similar success, most likely.

[ScaniaBoy]

I guess it may mean more work for us posting Freepers.

AP news stories can still be discussed here if you write a “vanity” saying I have read at NYT this and that, and express with your own words the gist of the story.
(Of course no link can be provided, but if you give enough info people can find the article themselves.)

No way they can stop that.

[CedarDave]

I run a small website locally that aggregates news articles from all over. I have been threatened with a lawsuit twice by the local AP outlet, on the grounds that my website constitutes “unfair competition”. They have threatened my twice and backed down both times.

They are truly nuts. FR limits AP content to a headline, link and a few sentences. If interested in the story, I will click on a link to the article that will bring it up along with ads and links to their other articles. Forbidding even a headline and a link will ensure their content is not read at all. Throw the baby out with the bathwater, will ya.