AP Quotes Blogger In Discussing Bloggers Quoting AP; Hilarity Ensues
from the i-want-my-$12.50 dept
The ongoing ridiculous situation brewing between bloggers and the Associated Press has now taken a turn towards the enjoyably hilarious. We had already mentioned the fact that, despite the AP's complaints that bloggers quoting less than 100 words were violating fair use, the AP had a long history of quoting more than 100 words from bloggers -- and not even linking back to the original blog. Now, in a bit of ultimate irony, the AP's own article about this brouhaha quoted (without linking) twenty-two words from TechCrunch. That's 18 words more than the supposed four word "limit" the AP has suggested. With an ironic chance that wide, TechCrunch's Michael Arrington couldn't resist, and asked his lawyer to send a DMCA takedown notice to the Associated Press, along with a bill for $12.50 (directly off the AP's own pricing schedule). He admits that it's ridiculous, but that's what his actions are designed to present. By law, the AP should be required to takedown the content before filing a response -- though, since it's filing the response to itself, then perhaps it won't need to takedown the content. Either way, this helps illustrate the insanity of the entire situation.
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Filed Under: copyright, dmca, fair use, michael arrington, takedowns
Companies: associated press, techcrunch
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The AP just got owned, and it's all their fault.
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it's turtles all the way down
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I see, it must be only when they're sent by rights owners in response to genuine infringements that they're reprehensible...
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On another note, if I want to quote anything from any article anywhere, am I now going to have to search their entire site to make sure it's legal for me to do so? What if I hadn't ever heard about this and got the quote from an AP article in a newspaper? There's nothing there telling me I have to pay to do so. What about the high school or college student writing an essay? Do they have to pay if they want to quote something from an AP article? Or does this only apply to bloggers?
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As for the pricing structure, it's irrelevant. Fair use allows much more than the AP is trying to bill for, free of charge. Same with any other medium you happen to quote to - as long as it fits within the fair use doctrine of standard copyright, you'd be immune from charges.
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AP
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