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10/09/07
AP Press Release
The Associated Press sues Moreover Technologies and VeriSign
for infringement and misappropriation
NEW YORK -- The Associated Press has sued Moreover
Technologies Inc. and VeriSign Inc., asking a federal court
to stop the two companies from accessing and electronically
publishing AP's proprietary news reports without permission
and infringing on the news organization's copyrights and trademarks.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York on Tuesday, Oct. 9, seeks unspecified
damages and a permanent injunction against Moreover and VeriSign.
The Associated Press, the New York headquartered not-for-profit
cooperative of several thousand U.S. newspapers and broadcasters,
filed suit after Moreover Technologies and VeriSign failed
to comply with the directives in a Sept. 11 cease-and-desist
letter.
"The Associated Press spends hundreds of millions of
dollars every year gathering and reporting the news, providing
original coverage of vital breaking news that cannot be obtained
anywhere else," said Tom Curley, AP President and CEO.
"We've done this for more than 160 years, often under
tremendous time pressure and often at great risk to our journalists.
When someone uses our content without our permission, they
are free riding on our newsgathering and our reporting of
news from around the world."
"AP’s proprietary news reports are a critical source
of reliable information in today’s time-sensitive, information-centric,
global economy," said AP Vice President and General Counsel
Srinandan Kasi.
"As part of its policy of enforcing its intellectual
property rights, AP maintains an active licensing program
across content platforms and media types. Thousands of publishers,
corporations, educational institutions, governmental bodies
and other organizations, large and small, have been and are
active licensees of AP content, in some cases continuously
over several decades,” Kasi said.
Moreover Technologies, which is owned by the Delaware corporation
VeriSign, openly claims that AP is among the sources of its
major news coverage, according to the suit. “This suit
is about two companies that are willfully misappropriating
and infringing upon AP’s proprietary news reports on
a continuous basis, and are falsely associating themselves
with AP, to operate and promote their fee-based and ad-supported
services, which they promise will deliver real-time news in
as fast as two minutes of publication,” said Kasi.
About The AP
The Associated Press is the essential global news network,
delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world
to all media platforms and formats. Founded in 1846, AP today
is the largest and most trusted source of independent news
and information. On any given day, more than half the world's
population sees news from AP.
Contact: Jack Stokes, AP Corporate Communications, 212.621.1730
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