AP Settles Intellectual Property Lawsuit Against AHN Media

By: E&P Staff The Associated Press announced Monday that it has settled its intellectual property lawsuit against AHN Media and individual defendants.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in January 2008, sought unspecified damages and a permanent injunction against what AP purported was misappropriation of proprietary news reports and against infringement of AP?s copyrights and trademarks.

"AP is pleased to have successfully resolved the litigation through a principled settlement," Laura Malone, AP?s associate general counsel for intellectual property governance, said in a statement.

AP alleged in its suit that AHN instructed its staff and contractors both in the U.S. and abroad to source news content from AP stories upon their publication online. The suit also alleged that AHN told its staff to rewrite those AP reports and use the rewritten text without AP?s name and copyright management information.

Further, AP alleged that AHN added its own byline to those rewritten versions of AP stories and that AHN then ?reproduced, distributed, publicly displayed and published the rewritten version of the AP stories in competition with AP?s news services.? AHN denied those allegations.

As a result of the suit and as part of the settlement, the defendants agreed that they would ?not make competitive use of content or expression from AP stories,? according to the AP?s release -- which also states the defendants acknowledge there were many instances in which AHN improperly used AP?s content without proper consent.

The AP?s release states that AHN will pay the news conglomerate an unspecified sum to settle the AP's claim for past unauthorized use of AP expression and news content. "This settlement safeguards AP's investments in journalism, and serves as notice to others that AP will fully defend its intellectual property rights against unfair competition," Malone added in a statement.