The Department of Justice announced today that it supports a proposal by The Associated Press (AP) to develop and operate a voluntary news registry to facilitate the licensing and Internet distribution of news content created by the AP, its members, and other news originators. The department said that the development and operation of the registry is not likely to reduce competition among news content owners and could provide procompetitive benefits to both participating content owners and content users.
The Department of Justice's position was stated in a business review letter to counsel for the AP from Christine Varney, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division.
The registry would consist of a centralized digital database containing news content from multiple content owners. It would allow content owners to register and list individual items of news content, specify the uses others may make of that content, and detail the terms on which such content may be licensed. The registry would enable content users to determine quickly the licensing and use terms applicable to a specific content owner or to individual items of registered content.
"The AP's registry may provide a new, efficient way for news content users to identify applicable terms of use and purchase licenses for Internet news content," said Assistant Attorney General Varney. "The registry may benefit both news originators and content users by reducing the transaction costs associated with securing licenses for Internet use."
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
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