TheNextWeb could have provided substantially the same article to its readers by block quoting with attribution rather than plagiarizing with attribution.
Would that have been fair use? While a significant minority of people would say "No", I'm in the majority that would say "Yes".
But hey -- I once blogged something only to have Mashable post the same news, taking credit for it as original research (but without plagiarizing the wording). I think that behavior was worse. Pete Cashmore promised me he'd fix it, then didn't follow through.
Would that have been fair use? While a significant minority of people would say "No", I'm in the majority that would say "Yes".
But hey -- I once blogged something only to have Mashable post the same news, taking credit for it as original research (but without plagiarizing the wording). I think that behavior was worse. Pete Cashmore promised me he'd fix it, then didn't follow through.