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Associated Press v. Meltwater, No. 12 Civ. 1087 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 21, 2013). is a district court case which The Associated Press brought suit against Meltwater U.S. Holdings for clipping and sharing news items under copyright infringement and "hot news" misappropriation. In a cross-motion for summary judgement, Meltwater argued they were not infringing under the requirements of Fair Use. Meltwater claimed that their service was transformative and therefore non-infringing on copyright. [1]
| Associated Press v. Meltwater | |
|---|---|
 Seal of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York | |
| Court | United States District Court for the Southern District of New York |
| Full case name | Associated Press v Meltwater U.S. Holdings Inc |
| Decided | 21 March 2013 |
| Defendant(s) | Meltwater U.S. Holdings Inc |
| Prosecution | Associated Press |
| Case history | |
| Subsequent action(s) | none" |
| Holding | |
| The court held that Meltwater was infringing on Associated Press' copyright and that they were not protected under the fair use doctrine | |
| Court membership | |
| Judge(s) sitting | Denise Cote |
| Keywords | |
| fair use, copyright | |
Background[edit]
Associated Press (AP) was founded in 1876 as a not-for-profit news organization that publishes original content and photographs. The company receives its funds from various subscribing newspaper and broadcasting companies. Licensing fees account for hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue and each contract is crafted to grant certain permissions of redistribution, clipping, etc. to the specific license holder. Each article is carefully sourced, researched and edited, following a written structure that involves the use of a lede, a concise concentration of key information. AP obtains a registered copyright on some of their articles, 33 of which are relevant to this case. In addition to licensing, the Associated Press offers numerous products including AP Exchange, which allows licensees to access content by searching for keywords and other metadata. [2]
Meltwater is a "software as a service" or Saas, that in 2005 began offering news monitoring services to subscribers.[1] Meltwater electronically clips articles and their contents verbatim using crawlers for its customers and distributes them widely.[3] The service eventually began to include stories written by the Associated Press. Meltwater's "Global Media Monitoring" product allows its customers to search news articles by keyword. When a customer searches for information based on a string of keywords in the database, Meltwater reports back a list of articles from all over the web organized according to that query. Beneath the search result is a set of information including the headline of the article and URL, the information about the source and origin, and excerpts from that article. Subscribers to Meltwater can subscribe to a newsletter for their queries, search "ad hoc" and archive the material if desired, etc.[1]
Meltwater and AP compete for news clipping service market for their clients through AP Exchange and Global Media Monitoring. It was not contested that through the Global Media Monitoring service, Meltwater copied content from each of the thirty-three articles registered under copyright by AP.[1]
Case[edit]
History[edit]
Thirty three Registered Articles held under AP's copyright were indisputably clipped by Meltwater at varying lengths and included on their website and in the Newsletters.
AP filed suit on 14 February 2012 on six forms of copyright infringement and hot news misappropriation and Meltwater responded with four defense claims surrounding Fair Use and business interference. The pretrial was held 20 April, 2012 and the right to initial investigation was granted. On 13 July 2012, AP added more articles to their complaint. On 9 November 2012, AP and Meltwater both filed for summary judgment and the final motions were submitted 23 January 2013. The court decided on 21 March 2013.[1]
Claims[edit]
AP asserted to the court that they held a valid copyright and that Meltwater made use of the Registered Articles, but insisted that their use was fair.[4]
Meltwater's five defenses: 1. Meltwater failed to justify their Fair Use claim under 17 U.S.C. Section 107 by not meeting any of the four rules: 1. The purpose and character of use was not substantially transformative. 2. The nature of AP's original work was creative. 3. The amount of the copying ranged from %4.5-60% per Registered Article. 4. The effect on the market was substantial.[5] 2.Implied License 3. Equittable Estopel 4. Laches 5. Copyright Misuse
Decision[edit]
The opinion of the District Judge, Denise Cote, stated that Meltwater did violate AP's copyright by clipping and redistributing its articles without the appropriate licenses.[6] While other news services who deliver AP's stories, Meltwater did not license the content from the AP. The Associated Press reported in July 2013 that the two parties settled to work together and begin developing products.[3]
See Also[edit]
External Links[edit]
- [www.ap.org Associated Press Website]
- [www.meltwater.com Meltwater Website]
- US Copyright Office: Fair Use
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e "AP v. Meltwater" (PDF). Case. Retrieved 10/1/13.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ [www.ap.org "The Associated Press"]. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
{{cite web}}: Check|url=value (help) - ^ a b Associated Press. "AP, Meltwater settle copyright dispute". USA Today. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
- ^ Lay, Stacia. "AP Sues News Monitoring Service, Meltwater, for Copyright Infringement and "Hot News" Misappropriation". IT Law Chat. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
- ^ "17 USC Section 107". Retrieved 26 October 2013.
- ^ Vaughan, Bernard. "AP, news aggregator Meltwater end copyright dispute". Retrieved 10/1/13.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help)
Category:Copyright case law Copyright Case law Category: Fair Use Cases