Google has reportedly signed an agreement with the Associated Press (AP) to license its news stories and photographs, thus ending a long-standing dispute over the use of AP content on Google.

Confirming the same, Google said that the company is paying AP for its content, and that this content will be used as the foundation for a new product that will complement Google News.

According to AP, which has argued that Google News unjustly uses it words and photographs, the deal will help avoid further dispute between Google and itself.

Last year, another newswire, Agence France Presse (AFP), had taken a more litigious approach to the matter, suing Google and demanding $17.5 million in damages. AFP had alleged that Google did not obtain permission to link or display its content.

However all through, Google has maintained that linking and displaying thumbnails of images falls under "fair use of copyrighted material". The latest deal, according to the company, supports this claim, as technically speaking content is being licensed for a new section of Google News.

Although there is no clarification as to how AP stories will be used, it is believed that Google is planning a service to compete with Yahoo! News which provides full-length articles from a variety of news sources including AP and Reuters. As of now, Google links only to the original source on its News site.

A Google representative said that the company has always believed that content providers and publishers should be fairly compensated for their work, so that they continue to produce high-quality information.

The representative also said that Google is always on the look-out for new ways to help users find information, and that the business agreement with AP is just an example of that.

Meanwhile, the financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed. Consequently, it is unclear whether the deal will involve a flat fee, or paying AP according to traffic statistics.

SOURCE