UDN.com(Taiwan), one of the largest media conglomerate in Greater China region, issues a controversial licensing policy which explicitly states that any websites involved in news reproduction, abstraction, or even “copying" an exact quote of it’s headline titles from UDN would have to obtain UDN’s “u2u approval" first. The fees for “rights-managed" news are based on a specific criteria: total print run, distribution, intended use, etc. This policy applies not only to public website owners but also newsletter publishers. Strong concerns regarding UDN.com’s new decision are being voiced among Taiwanese bloggers, and some even think it’s a blackmail call to the domestic public.
Another big brother at the parody play is Chinatimes.com, where I find it’s user agreement is obviously an attempt to adopting identical business model.
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T.H. Schee 
03.25.04
Court Permits Online News Headlines to Be Copied
From Mainichi Daily News: The Tokyo District Court ruled on March 24 that copyright does not apply to online news headlines in a Yomiuri Shimbun case against an Internet company. The decision is the first in the country concerning copyright infringement for Web headlines. Yomiuri Shimbun had sued Digital Alliance, arguing that original and minimally modified headlines from the newspaper were appearing on Digital Alliance’s site without authorization. Presiding Judge Toshiaki Iimura of the district court concluded that the duplication of headlines “that are open to the public on the Internet" without permission is not a copyright violation, based on the notion that “headlines … cannot be described as creative expression." A Yomiuri representative said the newspaper would appeal.
— By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Keiko Mori