PRCA appeal links licence ruling

CORPORATE COMMS NEWS BITE: As expected, the PR Consultants Association has announced it will appeal the recent High Court ruling regarding whether or not a licence is needed from the Newspaper Licensing Agency when PR or cuttings agencies provide lists of links to articles about their clients.

As previously reported, the NLA says a licence is needed, just like when actual copies of articles are provided to clients, or distributed by a PR team within a company. But the PRCA argues that when a PR is providing links that simply direct clients or colleagues to original articles on a newspaper’s own website, no such licence should be required.

Both the PRCA and cuttings company Meltwater are taking the matter to the Copyright Tribunal, the special court that considers copyright issues. However, in the meantime the NLA took Meltwater to the High Court to reinforce its claim that cuttings companies and their clients should pay a licence fee when links lists are exchanged, and they won.

As partners with Meltwater on this dispute, the PRCA has announced it will appeal that High Court ruling as well as fighting the links licence at the Copyright Tribunal. Confirming the appeal, PRCA boss Francis Ingham has posted a video message in which, according to PR Week, he says: “We were disappointed by the High Court’s decision and believe it fundamentally to be flawed. We believe it risks putting an end to the freedom with which information can be shared on the internet. The implication is that the mere act of browsing freely accessible websites will require a copyright licence. We are therefore appealing the decision”.

You can see Ingham’s full video message here.

Posted Tuesday December 14 2010 by Chris Cooke