The Associated Press has been kind enough to give bloggers more a week’s worth of posts with all its antics bullying websites and charging people for quoting more than 4 words. After several instances have shown the A.P. quotes blogs (without links), the A.P. decided to quote another blog once more for old times sake. They decided to quote TechCrunch, for irony’s sake, in an article about all the brouhaha over their own anti-quoting policy.

TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington announced he sent the news wire a DMCA takedown notice and a bill for $12.50, according to the organization’s own pricing chart for quoting 22 words from his post. Arrington describe’s his actions:

Am I being ridiculous? Absolutely. But the point is to illustrate that the A.P. is taking an absurd and indefensible position, too. So I’ve called my lawyers (really) and have asked them to deliver a DMCA takedown demand to the A.P. And I will also be sending them a bill for $12.50 with that letter, which is exactly what the A.P. would have charged me if I published a 22 word quote from one of their articles.

Kudos to Arrington for standing up for bloggers and fair use.

Update 11:48 a.m. - The A.P. released a statement this morning saying the matter between it and the Drudge Retort, the original target of DMCA takedown notices, is closed.  No details about what was actually discussed.  Just move on, nothing to see here.  Let’s see how that works for them.