Copyright Disputes Resolved between AP and Blogger
The AP probably had no idea it would create such a firestorm in the blogging community by telling the (aptly named) Drudge Retort to remove seven headlines and story briefs from its site. Media commentator Jeff Jarvis tried to mediate, and then lost his temper. Michael Arrington urged a boycott of the AP.
AP issued a Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown notice to Drudge Retort last week. AP went far beyond normal copyright claims, stating that the Drudge Retort’s quoting headlines and short excerpts — less than 100 words each — was sufficient to violate AP’s copyright. Most people on the Internet would consider that behavior fair use — indeed, it’s been standard practice for blogs for years — but AP says it was ripped off.
Today, a press release from the AP declared “case closed” in the Drudge Retort affair, while some bloggers and news sources turned to Cox, President of the Media Bloggers Association, for clarification. Though no official policy was announced, and the outstanding DMCA takedown notices that troubled Cox initially were not mentioned, it looks like the blogstorm is officially at an end.
Rogers Cadenhead, the tech author who runs the Drudge Retort, agrees with the Associated Press that the legal dispute that started when the wire service objected to his site’s use of its news reports is over but doesn’t see an easy end to the overarching issue of how news is shared online.
He says, “I’m glad that my personal legal dispute with the AP is resolved, thanks to the help of the Media Bloggers Association, but it does nothing to resolve the larger conflict between how AP interprets fair use and how thousands of people are sharing news on the web. You could probably guess that by the lack of detail in AP’s statement.”
Source: Wired
