"This agreement will help the Web grow by
encouraging linking while enforcing the principle that
intellectual property rights will be respected in
cyberspace," Tom Baker, business director of The Wall
Street Journal Interactive Edition, said in a statement.=
=20
"To keep investing millions in making Web content
available for free or at low cost, the companies who
brought this suit need to know that Web users will see
our content the way we meant for it to be seen," he
said.=20
RR/ Boo-boo Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition. "The way we
meant for it to be seen" - and if there's an unintended way to see it
that brings you added traffic&revenue, you'll complain??
While TotalNEWS' Website Thursday linked directly
to the plaintiffs' sites, it continued to frame Websites=
of
companies that did not sue, such as USA Today.
"USA Today never complained," Godzich said when
asked about the continued framing of other media
sites. "On the contrary, they thanked us for the traffic."
RR/ Rah rah TotalNEWS and USA Today. Sure, intellectual property needs
to be respected. But the rules change online.=20
If an upstart can rephrase old bits in=20
new ways, are they infringing, or adding value? Time for the laws to change
to accomodate the innovators, not the other way around...If you're forced
into a stupid settlement, follow the letter of the law only for the
clueless -=20
do the Right Thing with the clueful. It's a plan...
=20
Godzich said TotalNEWS has just five employees.
RR/ Sounds about right. I figure the right number for any useful venture in
component-cottage-industry-land is somewhere between 2-6. How
big is metaGenesis?
"Getting only one source of information is
information. Comparing information is knowledge."=20
RR/ And that's a quote - think I'll steal it.
(Of course the TotalNEWS site apparently runs on Digital Alphas,
which probably explains their general state of righteousness, huh ;-)?
Ron.
----full text of article-----
http://cnnfn.com/digitaljam/wires/9706/05/totalnews_wg/
'Net news dispute settled
Website can link to other content,
but not cover advertising=20
June 5, 1997: 7:33 p.m. ET
NEW YORK (Reuter) - Several of the nation's biggest
media companies Thursday settled a federal copyright
lawsuit against TotalNEWS Inc. forbidding the tiny
Internet company from displaying their Websites with
TotalNEWS ads.=20
The settlement of the closely watched federal
lawsuit was announced in a joint statement by
TotalNEWS, The Washington Post Co. and the other
plaintiffs.
Under the agreement, the TotalNEWS' Website
may provide links to the plaintiffs' Websites, but in
such a way that Internet users will be taken directly to
the plaintiffs' sites.=20
Previously, TotalNEWS was set up so that users
who clicked on a link to a plaintiff's Website would see
the site wrapped in a frame containing advertising sold
by TotalNEWS and other TotalNEWS material.
The Washington Post and its online subsidiary,
Digital Inc., were joined in the lawsuit by Time Warner
Inc. units Time Inc., Cable News Network Inc. and
Entertainment Weekly Inc.; Reuters Holdings PLC unit
Reuters New Media Inc.; Dow Jones & Co. Inc.,
publisher of The Wall Street Journal and Barron's, and
newspaper publisher Times Mirror Co. Time Warner is
the parent company of CNNfn and CNNfn.com=20
The defendants were TotalNEWS Inc., based in
Gilbert, Ariz.; the two companies that own it, Grouper
Technologies Inc. and Datapix Inc.; and TotalNEWS
President Roman Godzich and TotalNEWS employees
Norman Bashkingy and Larry Pagni.
TotalNEWS launched the Web site on Oct. 17,
Godzich said in a telephone interview. The lawsuit was
filed in U.S. District Court on Feb. 20.
"This agreement will help the Web grow by
encouraging linking while enforcing the principle that
intellectual property rights will be respected in
cyberspace," Tom Baker, business director of The Wall
Street Journal Interactive Edition, said in a statement.=
=20
"To keep investing millions in making Web content
available for free or at low cost, the companies who
brought this suit need to know that Web users will see
our content the way we meant for it to be seen," he
said. "We're pleased to now have that assurance from
Total News."
Speaking for the defendants, Godzich said, "The
TotalNEWS people can once again focus their
resources productively online rather than in a
courtroom. We've decided to concentrate our efforts on
enhancing TotalNEWS to better serve the thousands of
users that support us every day."
While TotalNEWS' Website Thursday linked directly
to the plaintiffs' sites, it continued to frame Websites=
of
companies that did not sue, such as USA Today.
"USA Today never complained," Godzich said when
asked about the continued framing of other media
sites. "On the contrary, they thanked us for the traffic."
Among those whose links continued to show framed
content were ABC News, CBS News and MSNBC.
Godzich said TotalNEWS has just five employees.
"Our whole purpose at TotalNEWS is to allow the
user to easily get a lot of different angles on a story,"
he said. "Getting only one source of information is
information. Comparing information is knowledge."=20
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Copyright 1997 Reuters. All rights reserved.=20
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.=
=20
Copyright =A9 1997 Cable News Network, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
=20