What in an article is protected
Copyright protects the way a story is written, not the facts it reports. Anyone may report that an event happened, but copying a reporter's sentences, structure, and selection of detail is another matter. Headlines and short phrases are usually treated as too brief for copyright on their own, although copying them in bulk alongside other text can still create problems. Photographs and graphics inside an article are often owned separately, sometimes by a wire service or an independent photographer. Fair use can allow quotation, commentary, and criticism, but it is weighed case by case, and reposting an entire article to attract readers is rarely where it applies most comfortably.
Freelancers, staff writers, and reprints
A reporter on staff writing within the job usually creates work the publisher owns. Freelancers are different: without a signed written transfer or work-for-hire agreement, a freelancer generally keeps the copyright and the paper holds narrower rights set by the arrangement and by federal law. Disputes come up when an article is resold to databases, syndicated, or reused in a new format the original deal did not clearly cover. If you are a writer, gather your assignment emails, contracts, invoices, and any terms printed on payment stubs or portals. If you are a publisher, the same documents tell you what rights you actually hold.
Answering a licensing demand
Publishers and the agencies that license news content send many of these letters, and the figure in the first one is a demand rather than a ruling. Before responding, take the copied material down if it is still live and save a record of what was posted, where, and for how long. We look at whether the content was registered, which affects what remedies are available in court, and whether any use might fall within fair use. Many matters are resolved with a license, a takedown, or both, and some deserve a firmer reply. The first conversation is about which of those fits the facts.
