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U.S. Copyright Office I.

The internet has multiplied the information sources accessible to many individuals and put those sources in the palm of their hands. A majority of Americans now get their news from digital devices, and a majority of those who do say their primary source is not a newspaper's website, but a search index, a social media feed, or a specialized service that aggregates news from other sources. Digital distribution enables these "news aggregators" to provide links to and snippets of others’ published reporting at low cost and with a wide reach.

The transition to digital publishing has coincided with a marked decrease in press publisher revenues. The reasons for this decrease, the role of news aggregators, and the policy issues raised, are discussed below. As a matter of current copyright law, the central questions are whether the particular material copied, notably "snippets" of text such as headlines and ledes, is protected by copyright, and if so, whether reproduction and distribution of this material is permitted by the Copyright Act's fair use exception. Finally, to the extent that many acts of aggregation are not infringing, should the law be changed?

The copyright issues associated with news aggregation are part of a longer discussion about the viability of legacy press publishers and, more broadly, the survival of journalism in the internet era, dating back to the early 2000s. As this discussion gained more visibility, and other