Universal: OK Our Copyright Remains on Coulter's 'Old Arab' Column

By: Dave Astor The continued presence of a Universal Press Syndicate copyright under Ann Coulter's "old Arab" column on AnnCoulter.com doesn't seem to bother her syndicate.

"Since it has been widely reported that the column in question is not copyrighted by Universal Press, and since it is now in the archives and not anything you see when you log in to her page, we are satisfied that editors by now are well aware of the situation," said Kathie Kerr, Universal's director of communications, in an e-mail response to an E&P query. "We haven't talked to Ann about it anymore, mainly because the syndicate has other priorities to deal with, as I'm sure she does, too."

Last Tuesday, Universal announced an agreement with Coulter calling for the syndicate's copyright to be removed from past and future columns on AnnCoulter.com that differ from columns sent to newspapers. In her Feb. 23 column, the conservative Coulter called liberal columnist Helen Thomas an "old Arab" and implied Thomas was a security threat to President Bush. Universal removed the "Arab" reference before sending the column to Coulter's 110 newspaper clients. But Coulter kept "Arab" in the version of her column on AnnCoulter.com, and has yet to remove the Universal copyright -- thus continuing to associate the syndicate with her words about Thomas.

Coulter -- who could not be reached for comment -- does have an Ann Coulter copyright, rather than a Universal copyright, on the most recent column on her Web site.

Thomas' Hearst Newspapers column is distributed by King Features Syndicate.