by Steven Musil
Maybe the Associated Press can file this one under "That's news to me."
At least one representative of the venerable news agency, which recently
declared that it was tired of the Internet riding on its coattails, was
apparently unaware the agency had an official YouTube video channel.
The Associated Press' official YouTube channel includes codes for
embedding videos on other sites.
(Credit: YouTube)
The AP recently sent a letter to WTNQ-FM in Tennessee--an affiliate of
the Associated Press, by the way--accusing the country music radio
station of copyright violation for embedding videos from the AP's
official YouTube channel on its Web site, according to a station
employee's blog. The AP channel includes embed code for its videos,
which allows any Web site or blog to embed the videos on their sites--a
feature that can be turned off.
Separately, on Monday the Associated Press said that it would go after
news aggregators and other Web sites that "walk off with our work under
misguided legal theories."
Frank Strovel, WTNQ's operations manager, writes in a blog that the
station received the following message from the AP's regional radio
representative in Chicago:
I noticed you are posting our video content with out a license and
have to ask you to remove the AP video content from the site ASAP. If
you would like to know more about our web services please contact me.
"Not exactly a cease and desist letter, but the point is the same,"
Strovel said.
Strovel, who said he was "stunned" by the letter, called the
representative to discuss the matter. Here is Strovel's version of how
the conversation went:
I said, "How is it a violation of a license agreement if you are
actively posting the video on YouTube--on a channel you specifically
created to share content--with embed codes for people to post in their
websites? Are you telling me that you put it there for people to
use......but if they USE IT they're violating your rights?"
The basic reply was, "Well, I'll have to investigate that issue
further but in the meantime you need to pull all of our videos off your
site."
Strovel said he pulled the videos on Tuesday but called the
representative back on Wednesday for answers to his questions.
"He still had no answer as to why they are posting content on YouTube
for embedding when it's apparently a crime to do so," Strovel said. "I
still want an answer to my original question and so far they are baffled
and cannot give me one. They actually seemed to act like they didn't
even know they had a YouTube channel!"
While this may be a simple misunderstanding, representatives for the AP
and WTNQ could not immediately be reached for comment.
News of the exchange began spreading Tuesday after Strovel Twittered
about the station's predicament. The news was picked up by the Knoxville
News and then by local video producer Christian Grantham, who conducted
the following video interview with Strovel:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10215703-93.html
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