Web Aggregators Beware

The NY Times reports today that the inline paragraphing we are doing below may soon bring us legal troubles.

A start-up called Attributor, based in Redwood City, Calif., is proposing an approach that is more carrot than stick. It has developed an automated way for newspapers to share in the advertising revenue from even the tiniest sites that copy their articles.

The plan faces many technical and legal hurdles. Attributor wants to take some of the ad money that would have been paid to the pirate site and give it to the copyright owner instead.

It’s unclear what amount of “copying” would be found by courts to be fair use and whether or not an aggregator would have to be gaining advertising revenues from hyperlinking or quoting.