That the Associated Press and Google reached an agreement earlier this year is not new although until recently neither was willing to say so flat out.  Neither is the fact that the Associated Press is getting paid by commercial websites for content; that’s been the case for more than a decade although some efforts were stepped up in recent years. One aspect that is new since discussions began: Google’s use of Google News outside the as-yet-non-commercial walls of news.google.com; for instance, Google News headlines show up adjacent to advertising on web search result pages and in Gmail.
So what does the agreement entail? Given an NDA, there’s not much either party is willing to confirm beyond the fact that they have an agreement. Philipp Lenssen got the following response when he asked Google: “Google has always believed that content providers and publishers should be fairly compensated for their work so they can continue producing high quality information. We are always working on new ways to help users find the information they are looking for, and our business agreement with the Associated Press is one example of that.”
From the statement AP sent me this evening: “Over the past decade, AP has had agreements with a number of online operations for use of selected portions of our content. The agreements with commercial markets, such as the one recently signed with Google, protect our intellectual property and provide supplemental revenue to subsidize our news gathering and other services for members.”
Here’s some of what’s not in the statements:
-- The agreement covers current use and future applications. Despite speculation to the contrary, the meter is running now, not waiting for a future event.
-- It appears to be comprehensive, not limited to what happens within the confines of Google News.
-- There are restrictions on how AP content can be used.
Related:
—More On Google News’ Deal With AP
-- @ NAB: AP’s Curley, Google’s Mayer Talk Aggregation—Carefully; AP-Google Deal?