Wednesday, March 23, 2005 11:39 AM
The French news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) has decided to sue Google over its practices in aggregating bits of headlines, stories and pictures from websites that are part of AFP's subscriber network. AFP is a news wholesaler, and its subscribers pay for the right to post AFP's news feeds on their websites. Media and blawg outlets reporting on the suit are also suggesting that outcome of this case could impact weblogs and the way in which they post and share information and links from other websites, especially news wire services and publications.
It seems likely that this suit will be one of many that are filed in the near term, as established media outlets and news wires look closely at the impact news aggregators, weblogs and other emerging technologies, impact (positively or negatively) their business model and bottom line. Already, some media outlets are lining up on Google's side, saying Google News actually drives more traffic to their sites, thus increasing online advertising revenue and potential subscribers to their print editions. Conversely, other media concerns see aggregators (and weblogs) as freeloaders who aren't paying for the right to display headlines, news excerpts and other content that the media concern had to spend money to create, and for which their customers pay them money.
Apropos of this topic, read all the headlines on the subject via Google News