• Reuters, Tuesday, April 7, 2009 10:15 AM

The Associated Press unveiled rate cuts Monday to help member newspapers reeling from declining ad revenue. But what really got the online buzz going all day was the AP's threat to sue Web sites that use its members' articles without permission -- primarily Google.

The AP said it would "pursue legal and legislative actions" against sites that do not properly license news content. It plans to develop a new system to track its members' and its own news distributed online to determine whether it is being legally used. "We can no longer stand by and watch others walk off with our work under misguided legal theories," says Dean Singleton, AP chairman.

Rate changes include $35 million in reductions for 2010 on top of $30 million it already instituted for 2009. The 163-year-old newswire service also will allow member newspapers to cancel their membership with one year's notice instead of two, while offering a discount to papers that stay on a two-year cancellation notice. The AP's revenue from U.S. papers is expected to fall by about a third between 2008 and 2010.

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