AP and AHN Media In Lawsuit Settlement

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AP and AHN Media In Lawsuit Settlement [news.cnet.com]

AHN Media has agreed to pay an undisclosed amount to the Associated Press to settle a lawsuit in which the AP accused AHN of rewriting AP stories and putting AHN's name on them, the companies announced on Monday.

In the settlement, AHN admitted to improperly using AP content in many instances, according to a joint news release published on the AP Web site.

AHN, which stands for All Headline News, also acknowledges that "the tort of 'hot news misappropriation' has been upheld by other courts and was ruled applicable in this case by U.S. District Court Judge P. Kevin Castel," the companies said.

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Given the state of the economy I can see were AHN said It's $X dollars to fight this or $Y to settle it.

Given the amount of chest beating and posturing from Associated Press recently I think that If AP really had a case that could be won then they would not have settled.

This is alot like the NYTimes getting Sued by Gatehouse earlier this year for aggregating headlines.

Good for AHN.. Good for AP... great for the lawyers