in the 1918 INS case Hearst was bribing AP reporters for stories and telegraphing then to his Calif papers. a theory of "Hot News" was born out of that case. Note that most US states don't recognize that theory. Only NY I think does and most states have ruled it "Bad Law"

I think that this case really comes across as a dispute between a big 1000 pound gorilla, and a smaller competitor.

It's also no secret that many of us feel that CNN and the internet killed AP's business model. Tribune and other MAJOR papers are canceling their AP contracts and more newspapers find that the AP has become obsolete. In fact AP has becoming competitive to their own members and the newspapers are finding that they have no need for an intermediary like the Associated Press

I don't think that this will fair so well for the Associated Press if this ever goes to a jury. News Hotness is mere minutes and more and more people are paying attention that AP has been trying to arbitrarily recast accepted fair use principles. Just Google 'AP Fair Use'. it's an interesting read.