AP Will Sell You a "License" To Words It Doesn't Own

James Grimmelmann performed an experiment using the AP's form to request a license to use more than four consecutive words from one of their articles. Except that he didn't paste in words from the (randomly chosen) article, but instead used 26 words written by Thomas Jefferson 196 years ago: If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea. The AP cheerfully charged him $12 to use Jefferson's 26 words. Both Boing Boing and TechDirt have picked up the story so far. Grimmelmann adds an update to his blog: the AP has rescinded his license to Jefferson's words and issued a refund for his $12. They did not exhibit the grace to admit that their software is brain-dead.

Comments

Goodnight, Sweet AP.

[CuteSteveJobs]

And so we see yet another terminally-ill industry smothering itself with a pillow.

Re:Goodnight, Sweet AP.

[mikiN]

Shout-out to all Slashdot physicists! Anonymous Cowards have mod points!

Now we know where all those mod points have gone. The discovery of the century: Dark Modpoints Finally Explained!

Re:Goodnight, Sweet AP.

[Will.Woodhull]

I like parent post's concept, but suggest that slashdotters with a little extra pocket change license some RIAA protected lyrics from AP. Then public inform the RIAA and see if we can incite a game of "Let's You And Him Fight".

Could be amusing...

That's it...

[Thelasko]

I'm writing a computer program that will figure out every word combination that can possibly be used to form a sentence, and then copyrighting the output. When someone writes something somewhere, I'll sue them for copyright infringement.

Don't even think about stealing this idea. I have it patent pending on it!

RIAA/MPAA

[syousef]

It's idiotic, but there is in fact a market for nothing: if you are correctly positioned as a trusted supplier

Finally! An explanation for the RIAA/MPAA and other association's sense of entitlement that we can all understand!

Re:There's a market for meaningless licenses.

[bitt3n]

if you are correctly positioned as a trusted supplier, there are cases when you can get paid for delivering no product at all, but merely for carrying out the ritual of delivering a product, with all the paperwork thereunto appertaining.

there's no need to bring religion into this

Re:Reuters text?

[bitt3n]

what if you buy a quotation that is itself quoting another AP article? Do you have to pay twice? What if the article is quoting itself? An infinite loop of profitability! Finally online content has a sustainable business model.