The confrontation between the Associated Press and Drudge Retort blogger Rogers Cadenhead has ended with more of a whimper than a bang.

Both sides say they’ve settled their specific differences over the handful of Drudge Retort posts that were the subject of the Associated Press’ legal takedown notice last week but have left unresolved the broader issue of when and on what basis the Associated Press will take legal action against bloggers who excerpt the news service's articles. The Drudge Retort, a takeoff on the Drudge Report, has about 8,500 users who post comments in reaction to news events, Cadenhead said.

The Associated Press continues to assert that the reproduction of the headline and first sentence of one of its stories is a copyright violation, said Robert Cox, president of the Media Bloggers Assn., who stepped into the dispute at Cadenhead’s request.

After flurries of phone calls and e-mails Thursday among Cadenhead, the AP, the bloggers association and their lawyers, what emerged were blog posts from Cadenhead and Cox, plus this vague statement from the AP:

In response to questions about the use of Associated Press content on the Drudge Retort website, the AP was able to provide additional information to the operator of the site, Rogers Cadenhead, on Thursday. That information was aimed at enabling Mr. Cadenhead to bring the contributed content on his site into conformance with the policy he earlier set for his contributors. Both parties consider the matter closed.

In addition, the AP has had a constructive exchange of views this week with a number of interested parties in the blogging community about the relationship between news providers and bloggers and that dialogue will continue. The resolution of this matter illustrates that the interests of bloggers can be served while still respecting the intellectual property rights of news providers."

But we suspect that this feud between the AP and bloggers isn't going to die down quickly. The blogosphere can have a long memory.

-- Thomas S. Mulligan

Mulligan, a Times staff writer, covers media from New York.

The Associated Press is trying to back out of an Old Media-New Media fight that it didn’t quite mean to pick.

The 162-year-old news service will sit down with representatives of a bloggers group Thursday to devise guidelines allowing Internet commentators to use excerpts from AP stories and broadcasts.

The AP provoked outrage in the blogosphere last week when it issued a blunt legal demand that the Drudge Retort, a small online news and commentary site, remove seven posts containing snippets –- all less than 80 words long –- from AP stories. The website, named in satirical homage to the much-larger Drudge Report news site, promptly complied with the demand but started the furor by calling attention to the incident in an online posting.

The traditional news media have long complained about freeloading by Internet sites that republish their articles without permission or compensation, and the AP is under pressure from its owner-members — 1,500 U.S. daily newspapers — to step up the fight against copyright infringement. The issue has heated up recently as newspapers have slashed staff and shrunk the size of their papers amid a severe advertising downturn.

But bloggers regard the use of news excerpts to stimulate online discussion as a long-established and constitutionally protected practice known as fair use. They reacted to the AP’s demand as if it had taken a hammer to a daisy.

TechCrunch, the popular Silicon Valley website, announced it would boycott AP stories until the organization reversed its stand. Another blogger, Jeff Jarvis of BuzzMachine, called on his peers to reprint AP articles at length in a Web-wide show of defiance.

Even Jim Kennedy, AP vice president for strategic planning, acknowledged that the legal tactic was heavy handed.

Faced with the withering reaction from the blogosphere, Kennedy and other AP executives ...

CBS Corp., playing the white knight in a Web-publishing proxy fight, this morning said it agreed to buy  CNET Networks, the Internet news and entertainment company, for $11.50 per share, or about $1.8 billion in cash.

The price is a 45% premium over CNET's $7.95-per-share closing price on Wednesday. CNET, in a press release with CBS, said its board unanimously voted to accept the offer. The deal, expected to be completed in the third quarter, would vault CBS into the top 10 Internet companies in the United States, with a combined 54 million unique visitors monthly, and about 200 million visitors worldwide.

CBS shares dove nearly 4% this morning, while CNET's soared almost 44%.

CNET, of San Francisco, owns the technology-oriented news sites CNET and ZDNet as well as GameSpot, TV.com, mp3.com, UrbanBaby, CHOW and MySimon. The company has been in a proxy battle with the New York hedge fund Jana Partners, which has criticized CNET as its shares have declined in the last year. Jana seeks to install its own slate of directors.

CNET, which reported revenue of $406 million in 2007, has a significant footprint overseas, especially in China, CBS noted in its statement.

"There are very few opportunities to acquire a profitable, growing, well-managed Internet company like CNET Networks," Leslie Moonves (right), CBS president and chief executive officer, said in the statement. "CBS stands for premium content and unparalleled reach, and CNET Networks will add a tremendous platform to extend our complementary entertainment, news, sports, music and information content to a whole new global audience."

"We're thrilled to join CBS and combine our interactive media experience with CBS's world-class content," Neil Ashe, CNET chief executive said. "CNET Networks operates some of the most important premium online brands, serving the most sought after online audiences."

-- Thomas S. Mulligan