Hot News and Jimmy Cliff at Yale Publishing School

The hot news this afternoon from Yale Publishing Course is...hot news. In fact, the misappropriation of hot news.

John Hart of Dow Lohnes PLLC walks us through the legal history which attempted to protect the publishers that spent money to collect the facts which create news--so necessary, we believe as a democracy, for an informed public. How to protect that content in the age of aggregators, and are the companies going to court to protect it asking the right question? Or should the news companies be looking to change their model, rather than spending resources in litigation? And if the model is to be changed, then changed to what? And if it is changed, then where will the resources to get the news be found?

Libel law is another balancing act in the age of user-generated content. US law has come down pretty consistently on the side of free speech, but this is not so everywhere. This has given rise to "libel tourism"--wherein a plaintiff takes a case to, for example, a UK court to get a judgment, then seeks for the US court to support the judgment. US publishers can be pretty comfortable that the US courts will decline to enforce a law that stands against our own free speech, but any publisher that has assets in another country would be wise to follow their libel laws.

And the court has found that a site that edits user-generated postings will not be held liable for their content--or, to paraphrase Jimmy Cliff, "you can edit if you really want."

"This is an information-packed day with sessions on some of the crucial issues facing publishers today," commented course director Tina Weiner. "Everything from doing business in China and India, how to handle co-editions and licensing abroad, to legal issues worldwide and analyzing your P/L. Speakers were bombarded with questions, which proved how important these issues are to course participants."

Robert Baensch was back with a financial view of publishing; Stewart Laurence of Weldon Owen Publishing spoke about creating co-editions of books for the worldwide market; and People magazine's Jane Nicholls spoke of trusting your partners but maintaining brand integrity when licensing publications abroad.

Keith Clinkscales of ESPN ended the day helping us re-imagine our business plans for the digital world. Anyone who has heard Clinkscales speak knows what a delight he is and you know what? I don't think one thing I say about it will do it justice.

So in this case--what goes on in New Haven will stay in New Haven.