Can links kill?, Guardian, 12/30/08

The Guardian: Can links kill?, Linking to online content is the essence of the web. But for newspapers, when does it cross the line to stealing content?:

"The future of online journalism may depend on the outcome of a legal battle between two financially ailing media giants [The New York Times Company and GateHouse Media]...

GateHouse has sued the Times Company for copyright infringement and related charges, claiming that the Your Town sites are an attempt to steal the content of GateHouse's Wicked Local websites for the Times's own commercial gain.

It's easy to take the Times's side in this battle. Linking, after all, is the essence of the web. Some of the smartest people in media are pushing news executives to look beyond their own walls and link to outside content, whether through blogging or something more comprehensive...

But wait. There's another side here, and it deserves to be carefully pondered rather than mockingly dismissed.

Seen from GateHouse's point of view, a Your Town site – for instance this one covering the town of Needham – links not just to a few stories, but scoops up every item of interest from GateHouse's Needham Times, making it unnecessary for anyone to visit the Wicked Local Needham homepage...

GateHouse managers have a right to complain, and to take retaliatory action. (In its legal complaint (pdf), the company says it failed in an attempt to make it technologically impossible for the Globe to link to its stories. But there are other steps it could consider.)...

Legitimate linking practices could come under unwarranted legal scrutiny as well...

The case – GateHouse Media v New York Times Company – is scheduled to go to trial on January 5 in US District Court. (Judge William Young has already rejected GateHouse's request for a temporary restraining order.)"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2008/dec/30/new-york-times-gatehouse-lawsuit

Aggregation aggravation: NYTCo hit with copyright suit over hyperlocal content, The Guardian, 12/23/08

Via The Guardian: Aggregation aggravation: NYTCo hit with copyright suit over hyperlocal content:

"Aggravation over aggregation: It's been a while since sites threatened legal action related to aggregated content. The GateHouse-NYTCo suit comes a few days after Huffington Post's Chicago-based site was called on the carpet of using parts of Chicago Reader's concert reviews without permission. Also, the suit is being brought at a time when local and regional papers are feeling crushed by the economy and the general state of the newspaper business. NYTCo rep Catherine Mathis tells Boston.com that the its hyperlocal sites aren't doing anything different from what blogs have been doing all along. Mathis: "Far from being illegal or improper, this practice of linking to sites is common and is familiar to anyone who has searched the web.""

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2008/dec/23/pressandpublishing-citizenmedia