AP Says "Share Your Revenue, Or Face Lawsuits"

eldavojohn writes "The Associated Press is starting to feel the bite of the economic recession and said on Monday that they will 'work with portals and other partners who legally license our content and will seek legal and legislative remedies against those who don't.' They are talking about everything from search engines to aggregators that link to news articles and some sites that reproduce the whole news article. The article notes that in Europe legislative action has blocked Google from using news articles from some outlets similar to what was discussed here last week."

Easy steps

[Thanshin]

1 - Tell someone a story.
2 - Wait till he tells the same story to someone else.
3 - Sue.

A great plan indeed. I can't foresee any way it may fail.

My 22 pence worth

[flyingfsck]

My website generates about 44 cents in Google revenue per day. The newspapers of the world are in for a surprise.

Aggregator Aggro

[commandlinegamer]

It wouldn't surprise if 90% of web sites are just aggregators. I'd be more than happy if they withered and died. Here's a tip - if you don't have [your own] content you don't have a website. I'm all for the Web - it gives people the freedom to publish their own damn nonsense, I just can't stand the amount of duplication you need to search through these days to find anything, be it news, software or tasteful pictures of Reese Witherspoon's chin (she could always double up as a snow plough if times get tough in the acting business).

Link to the original article

[Bearhouse]

[censored]

Don't these guys read the news?

[bobbuck]

Yes, but just the AP.

Re:Aggregator Aggro

[commandlinegamer]

You must be new here..you didn't expect me to realise the full implications of my own posting did you?

Re:If you don't want people looking at it

[Anonymous Coward]

The news outlets have really thrown themselves to the mercy of the Internet revolution, sticking by their values, and look where it got them. I am very worried about the decline of "real news" in the US.

That's why the real news declined, because the news people pushed their liberal values instead of reporting on reality.

Re:Are you really that stupid

[Anonymous Coward]

Elrond, Duke of URL:

And what's worse is that they might succeed because the courts have time and again shown questionable judgment when it comes to cases involving linking and fair use.

They said they would seek "legislative" solutions if this can't be solved to their satisfaction within existing law. In other words, if the portal sites continue to claim fair-use and don't pony-up the extra cash, the AP will turn to their liberal allies in congress to change the law and what constitutes fair-use. If you can't beat 'em, change the rules until you can. At least, that's what they seem to be threatening.