The A.P. Asserts Tough (and Still Secret) View of Copyright on Blogs

I was busy at the Hypertext ’08 conference these past few days, so only now am I following up on the AP vs. Bloggers story. According to NYT blogger Saul Hansell:

one key issue is the A.P. wants to protect the
headline and first paragraph of its articles. He suggested that this
will put The Associated Press in direct conflict with bloggers. “If
AP’s guidelines end up like the ones they shared with me, we’re headed
for a Napster-style battle on the issue of fair use,” Mr. Cadenhead
wrote on his blog.

Although The A.P. wouldn’t talk to me, several people I interviewed
who have spoken to A.P. executives this week said the organization
appears to be internally conflicted and has not yet been able to come
up with a clear fair-use position.

But unless something changes, Mr. Cadenhead’s experience indicates
that The A.P. is going to assert a much stricter interpretation of fair
use than most people on the Internet are used to.