Peter Suber on Israeli newspaper ads

Peter Suber has a fascinating perspective of an Israeli copyright dispute between newspaper and a website copying their ads.

" An Israeli court has ruled that a web site may copy and redistribute a newspaper's classified ads without seeking permission first. Excerpt: 'In this particular case, there is no information theft because the information does not belong to Maariv [the newspaper], but rather to the advertisers, who are simply using the daily newspaper as a platform. The judge stated that the advertisers have an interest in their notices being published in other places apart from Maariv, and said the job-seeking public is similarly interested in "an accessible site that enables them to easily survey job offers. As for Maariv's argument that people are liable to refrain from purchasing the newspaper and will instead surf Ozer's site, [Judge] Zaft responded: "The Internet poses new challenges to businesses that relay information to the general public via old platforms. The public has an interest in promoting initiative....The paper must find a way to exist alongside it."' (Thanks to BNA Internet Law News.)

(PS: This is not about scholarly publishing, but it's a welcome precedent with fascinating implications for scholarly publishing. Scholarly authors have the same interests as advertisers in seeing their work disseminated as widely as possible, not just to paying subscribers. Scholarly readers have the same interests as job seekers in having ready access to the scholarship or job ads that others are trying to disseminate. All of us have an interest in taking advantage of new technology and asking older business models to find a way to exist alongside it.)"