GateHouse Gets Litigious

It is, as the kids say, on like Donkey Kong between GateHouse Media and the Globe. Dan Kennedy reports that the local paper chain is suing the broadsheet over its hyperlocal "Your Town" sites. Which isn't totally surprising—the chain's owner hinted as much when I spoke to him for Boston Daily.

Now Universal Hub founder Adam Gaffin has announced he won't be posting any content from GateHouse sites, fearing a lawsuit since he too earns money off ads and could be accused of doing the same thing as Boston.com. I'd argue that it's less problematic for GateHouse when Gaffin links to their stories because he populates most of his site with content from local bloggers and probably causes the company to lose $.00002 per story. Boston.com's determination to repeat the Universal Hub model on the super-local level in order to save its fledgling business model definitely encroaches on GateHouse's turf in a more menacing way.

I can't wait to see how this one plays out. And I have no fear in linking to GateHouse content—I can assure you this blog makes me exactly zero dollars.