Glenn Reynolds, Michelle Malkin, and Patterico have noted the apparent irony that the Associated Press quoted 154 words from one of Patterico's blog posts soon after threatening bloggers for quoting fewer words than that from Associated Press stories.

  I am no copyright lawyer — don't try this at home, kids — but I'm not sure I get the inconsistency. The 154 words that the AP quoted weren't words written by Patterico: They were words from Mrs. Kozinski that she then submitted for publication to Patterico. I am no copyright lawyer — note repeated caveat — but I would think that Patterico had an implicit license to publish Mrs. Kozinski's message but did not himself get the copyright in it. If that's right, copying from Patterico's blog didn't violate Patterico's copyright. But then as I said, I am no copyright lawyer. Any actual copyright lawyers care to weigh in?

  UPDATE: Over at Instapundit, Glenn responds:

In response to Orin Kerr, those words certainly belonged to someone, that someone wasn't the AP, and the AP nonetheless used them without permission. If that use is okay, then . . . .

  Two responses back to Glenn. First, I'm not sure we know the AP used them without permission. We know that the AP reporter called Mrs. Kozinski and confirmed the authenticity of the statement posted on the web; are we sure that this call did not include an explicit or implicit permission to the AP that they could reprint it? Second, fair use is always contextual and case-by-case. I am not a copyright lawyer (that makes four), but my understanding is that copying the statements of a person who is "trying to get the word out" is really different from a fair use perspective from copying the statements of a pundit or reporter. So while I realize that this sort of thing is like blogospheric catnip, I'm not sure there's much substance to it.