AP Plans to Spell Out Fair Use Rules

The New York Times reports that the Associated Press will issue guidelines for what it considers fair use of copyrighted content online. This could get very interesting.

Until now, the AP (and most everybody else) has been selective and arbitrary about when to blow the whistle on a Web site that was lifting and reposting content. Things came to a head last week when the AP scolded The Drudge Retort, a left-leaning parody of The Drudge Report, for posting 39- to 79-word snippets of AP stories. Bloggers protested, and the AP backed down. Back in March, there was a similar case involving a right-leaning blog that was posting AP photos. So far none of this has gone to court, probably because the stakes are too low in each individual case... One side usually blinks.

If you take away one thing from this story, it should be this: Nobody knows what's considered fair use on blogs. Seriously. We're making this up as we go. Photographers would be well-advised to take part in this conversation, rather than watch from the sidelines while newswire attorneys write the rules.