They got it right in 1918. The Supreme Court pronounced that although facts themselves cannot be copyrighted, a company can sue when a competitor copies time-sensitive information or breaking news. Déjà vu in 2009—the Associated Press (AP) was again allowed to pursue its claim. Although this time it is in a new venue: the Internet. A federal judge in New York allowed the AP to sue two companies who took AP articles with “hot news” and deviously removed the reference to AP and sold them to its own customers. Unfortunately, AP’s trademark claim did not fare so well. The court dismissed that claim because a mere reference or description of the AP brand name did not cause confusion that the AP was affiliated with the defendant companies’ “hot news.” You win some, you lose some.
