TechCrunch Bans AP News and Stories

In a swift reaction to the crack down on bloggers by the Associated Press, TechCrunch has banned all links to AP news and stories.

So here’s our new policy on A.P. stories: they don’t exist. We don’t see them, we don’t quote them, we don’t link to them. They’re banned until they abandon this new strategy, and I encourage others to do the same until they back down from these ridiculous attempts to stop the spread of information around the Internet.

~ Michael Arrington

I was one of the first bloggers to react to the decison of the Associated Press on the Huffington Post yesterday. The following is the full text of my comment.

Bloggers should ask for permission before using copyrighted news materials or they should register to use syndicated news and features.

When I blog what I have read on the Huffington Post, I simply link to the title and address it with my own original content.

The terms of service for the Associated Press is published on their website and every reasonable blogger should read the terms and privacy policy before using content from the AP.

I wrote to the AP for permission before posting references from their news reports and I wrote photo agencies before using their photographs like newscom.

Most of the millions of bloggers are ignorant of the simple rules of copyrights and they are like bulls in a china shop. But many professional bloggers and blogging journalists do not abuse the terms of service of news websites and other sources.
posted 06/16/2008 at 10:30:05

The TechCrunch should not misinterprete the decision of the AP, because the AP has the right to set guidelines to protect their copyright. The AP is not spending millions of dollars for paid content for bloggers to turn it into a public domain.

This is not a case of de minimis non curat lex, because most of the blogs using materials lifted from the AP are not "trivial things". Many of them are making thousands of dollars from their blogs and using the smart excuse of Fair Use and the United States Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act under the United States copyright law to escape from the liabilities.

Checks and balances are imperative in the control and prevention of Copyright infringement.
This is the only legal way to stop the rampant violations of the exclusive rights of the authors and publishers of Intellectual Property.

You can read How Bloggers Can Work with Mainstream News Reporters Without Stress.