AP settles IP lawsuit with AHN Media

The Associated Press has reached an out-of-court settlement with AHN Media over intellectual property.

News agency the Associated Press (AP) has settled an intellectual property lawsuit with an online news organisation.

AHN Media was accused of reproducing or rewriting AP articles and publishing them as its own without crediting the latter agency.

The AP filed a lawsuit seeking unspecified damages in a US district court in January last year. It also sought a permanent injunction against misappropriation of proprietary news reports by the AP.

AHN Media has now agreed to pay the AP an undisclosed sum of money. It has also agreed not to "make competitive use of content or expression" from AP stories.

In a statement, Laura Malone, AP associate general counsel for intellectual property governance, said: "AP is pleased to have successfully resolved the litigation through a principled settlement."

She said the AP invests "hundreds of millions of dollars" in the gathering, production and distribution of breaking news across the world and pointed out that customers are able to use this material legally by paying a licence fee.

"Unauthorised use of these proprietary news reports by copying or rewriting published AP news stories is inimical to the interests of AP and its legitimate licensees," she remarked.

Ms Malone insisted that the settlement will safeguard the AP's investment in quality journalism and breaking news.

It will also serve as a warning to other news organisations that the AP is prepared to tackle the intellectual property issue head on where it suspects its stories have been used illegally.

Meanwhile, a number of European newspaper and magazine publishers, including News Corporation and Independent News and Media, are calling for digital intellectual property rights to prevent online news aggregators from using their work without payment.