AP takes action against community news website over copyright violation

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The Associated Press (AP) has taken action against a community news website over claims of copyright violation.

The agency has sent seven takedown notices under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to the Drudge Retort , where users submit blog entries and links to news articles online.

The notices claim links to and excerpts of AP content in six blog posts and one user comment breach international copyright laws.

“[S]haring links to news stories of interest has become an essential component of how millions of people read and evaluate the news today. When linking to articles, bloggers commonly include excerpts of the article for the purposes of criticism or discussion. Some AP member sites encourage this kind of reuse,” wrote Rogers Cadenhead, a member of the site's editorial board, in a blog post .

The contested entries have been removed, but Cadenhead has maintained they were not in breach of copyright because of the 'fair use' principle .

Cadenhead has also posted a full version of the AP letter accompanying the DMCA requests .

In a statement Jim Kennedy, AP vice president, said the agency's interests in protecting its intellectual property online 'extend only to instances that go beyond brief references and direct links to our coverage'.

"The Associated Press encourages the engagement of bloggers - large and small - in the news conversation of the day. Some of the largest blogs are licensed to display AP stories in full on a regular basis. We genuinely value and encourage referring links to our coverage, and even offer RSS feeds from www.ap.org, as do many of our licensed customers," said Kennedy.

"We get concerned, however, when we feel the use is more reproduction than reference, or when others are encouraged to cut and paste. That’s not good for original content creators; nor is it consistent with the link-based culture of the internet that bloggers have cultivated so well."

Dealings between the AP and Drudge Retort, he added, had been 'direct and helpful' and only focused on these issues.

Kennedy described Jeff Jarvis' calls for reproduction of AP stories by bloggers to show solidarity with the Drudge Retort 'out of synch with the environment he himself helped develop'.

"There are many ways to inspire conversation about the news without misappropriating the content of original creators, whether they are the AP or fellow bloggers," he said.