unicornnews: Newspaper licence extends to links

So, one for those of you involved in the never dull world of newspaper clippings.

The Newspaper Licensing Agency, which provides licences for those wishing to make copies of newspaper articles for commercial use – such as PR agencies providing their clients with multiple copies of cuttings – has said that it will start similarly licensing the provision of links to online versions of newspaper articles.

Technically speaking any company making multiple photocopies of a newspaper article for commercial use – which includes distribution to clients or staff – must have a licence from the NLA otherwise they are infringing the copyright of the newspaper owners and could, in theory, be sued (such action has happened).

Of course in the online age, where companies increasingly circulate links to articles about their products for clients or staff to read, rather than making physical photocopies, the old fashioned NLA licence is becoming less relevant, potentially resulting in a loss of income for the agency and the copyright holders they represent.

As a result the agency says it will now require any company who aggregates or passes on links to others as part of a commercial operation to have a licence to do so. The new licence will come into effect next year, and the agency has sent a message to members of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations explaining how it will work.

It’s an interesting development from a legal point of view in that when you forward a link you don’t, as such, make a copy of any copyright material, so arguably the new licence amounts to an extension of the rights newspaper publishers are claiming over their content. Current Copyright Law pre-dates the internet so doesn’t specifically cover such things, so I suspect if anyone chose to challenge the new licence through the courts it would not be clear cut as to which side would win.

At launch News International and the Financial Times will not be part of the new licence, so in theory a licence will not be needed to pass on hyperlinks to their content or, depending how you look at it, you won’t be able to legally pass on their links even with an NLA licence.

Posted Friday June 19 2009 by Chris Cooke

Related categories: Legal news