Because this blog does not often deal with the economics of news, some of you reading this will not immediately get why this is very big news. Others can explain that better, and few better than Jeff Jarvis at BuzzMachine.

This is probably APs last all-out attempt to protect their proprietary news content from unauthorized use on other web sites.

The problem is that this is an era when it is virtually impossible to protect anything.  AP could easily win and stop others from showing AP  content. But they could lose in the long run when other producers of news product step in.

If content users find other sources of less expensive news, the value of APs product could decline and even evaporate.

Watch this unfold.