Online copyright protection group led by Attributor reaches 1,000 members
Fair Syndication Consortium furthers plans to tackle copyright breaches with revenue-sharing arrangements
– 1 min read
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The Fair Syndication Consortium , a group aimed at protecting publishers' copyright online, has registered more than 1,000 members since its launch in April .
More than 50 per cent of US newspaper publishers have signed up alongside existing founding members Thomson Reuters, Huffington Post and Politico, according to a release.
A number of bloggers, the Magazine Publishers Association of America (MPA), Washington Post and New York Times are also involved in the initiative, which is based around online copyright tracking technology supplied by firm Attributor .
Using the technology, consortium members will be able to monitor instances where full copies of their material have been republished online.
External sites using the content will be approached with an proposed advertising revenue deal in return for continued use. If this is rejected, other options, including possible licensing or legal action will be explored, through Attributor's system.
As part of the latest development, digital advertising firm AdBrite has joined the consortium to help develop a new syndication model and further the revenue-share goal of the scheme.
"As one of the largest multimedia news organisations in the world, we find value in everything from subscription to ad-based monetization models," said Chris Ahearn, President of Media at Thomson Reuters.
"The Fair Syndication usage model is an important step forward in creating a thriving and sustainable commercial environment for our News Agency and Reuters.com publishing businesses, as well as, our peers in the publishing world."
The firm also recently introduced a partnership with Creative Commons, FairShare, aimed at copyright tracking for individual journalists and bloggers .
Written by
Laura Oliver is a freelance journalist, a contributor to the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, co-founder of The Society of Freelance Journalists and the former editor of Journalism.co.uk (prior to it becoming JournalismUK)
