Copyright and Fair Use: the Associated Press vs Bloggers

I’m sorry it has been a few days since my last post! Even though the weather outside is sunny and warm-I’ve been laid up with a nasty cold-doesn’t it feel worse to have a cold in the summer? Just unnatural. Part of this week’s class discussion has been on copyright and fair use, with specific concerns towards wikis, but I will write more on the developing story of the AP and copyright/quoting. When I returned to my computer I was amazed by the developing story about the Associated Press, bloggers, and copyright/fair use issues. The AP wanted to charge bloggers who quote more than 4 words from an AP story, starting with 5 words at $12.50, 51 words at $25, 101 at $50, etc. It was easy to find posts and sites talking about this issue, posts were usually short and had a long list of comments with *colorful* language. I understand the AP’s concern about being credited, I think they want bloggers to summarize in their own words instead of directly quoting, but we live in a ‘copy, paste’ kind of world. Most prefer to copy and paste, rather than summarize, would bloggers just ignore stories in general and cut out the AP, or just not link and give credit (I don’t agree with the latter, check out 2^nd link below for more). But I don’t know how the AP creating their own set of strict rules on copyright and fair use can and will be enforced over all bloggers. Is it within their rights to restrict bloggers rights? What about our guaranteed right to free speech, we can’t say anything against the AP? Can they require bloggers to pay for a license, AND can they revoke that license if they decide that person is writing negatively about the AP? Again, I’m still working on better understanding all the levels of copyright law.

1 of many articles about quoting from the AP:

http://techdirt.com/articles/20080617/0740561432.shtml

bloggers solution to dealing with AP:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/16/heres-our-new-policy-on-ap-stories-theyre-banned/