Do you remember the Associated Press’s 2009 announcement that they had discovered a magic-beans technology that would let them stop people from quoting the news unless they paid for license fees (for quotes as short as 12 words, yet!)?
Didn’t work.
Since the launch… we heard absolutely nothing about NewsRight. There was a launch, with its newspaper backers claiming it was some huge moment for newspapers, and then nothing.
Well, until now, when we find out that NewsRight quietly shut down. Apparently, among its many problems, many of the big name news organization that owned NewsRight wouldn’t even include their own works as part of the “license” because they feared cannibalizing revenue from other sources. So, take legacy companies that are backwards looking, combine it with a licensing scheme based on no legal right, a lack of any actual added value and (finally) mix in players who are scared of cannibalizing some cash cow… and it adds up to an easy failure.
AP’s Attempt At DRM’ing The News Shuts Down [Mike Masnick/Techdirt]
(Image: AP: Protect, Point, Pay)
