AP sues web publishers

The Associated Press announced that it has sued Moreover Technologies Inc. and VeriSign Inc., asking a federal court to stop the two companies from accessing and electronically publishing AP's proprietary news reports without permission and infringing on the news organization's copyrights and trademarks. The lawsuit, filed in US District Court for the Southern District of New York yesterday, seeks unspecified damages and a permanent injunction against Moreover and VeriSign. The AP says it filed suit after Moreover Technologies and VeriSign failed to comply with the directives in a September 11th cease-and-desist letter.

"The Associated Press spends hundreds of millions of dollars every year gathering and reporting the news, providing original coverage of vital breaking news that cannot be obtained anywhere else. We've done this for more than 160 years, often under tremendous time pressure and often at great risk to our journalists. When someone uses our content without our permission, they are free riding on our newsgathering and our reporting of news from around the world," said Tom Curley, AP President and CEO. 

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