Startup Tries to Rally Publishers with Ad-Sharing Proposal

A Silicon Valley startup and handful of publishers have a new plan to bring peace to the war between Web sites and media companies accusing them of stealing their content.

The group, which includes Reuters and smaller online publishers like Politico, wants companies that broker advertising to Web sites to give them a share of the revenue from ads they sell alongside full copies of their content. Companies like Google (GOOG), Yahoo (YHOO) and Microsoft (MSFT), along with many more specialized players, operate advertising networks that carry out this brokering role.

Reponsibility for policing the program would fall to Attributor Corp., whose technology identifies copies of articles and videos on the Web. Up to now its clients, which include the Associated Press and the Financial Times, have often used the information to request their content be taken down.

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