Helping publishers monitor and control copyright infringement

During most weeks over 1700 web domains infringe copyright content of just four national newspaper publishers. In one recent week one domain alone (www.libreprensa.com) infringed 813 articles. The next highest infringement of one publisher’s material by a domain during that same week was 684 articles.

NLA is now running an infringement tracking system to identify and contact infringers. The service identifies where content taken from newspaper websites has been copied elsewhere in the public domain, removing licensed sites from the analysis. An initial thirteen week trial  with four national newspapers (Independent, Telegraph, Guardian and Mirror) ran in q4 2013 to.

•        analyse the level of infringement against publisher rules
•        compile domain ownership data and contact details where possible
•        advise users of the potential issues
•        after confirmation with publishers, take appropriate action and;
•        follow up referrals to publisher legal teams where required

In the trial a large number of domains removed infringing content, or complied with publisher rules (such as linking appropriately) and also referrals to publishers for licences or the NLA web republishing licence.  The service is now live and NLA looks forward to developing it, and building closer links with other publisher initiatives in this area. 

There are no simple solutions to copyright abuse, but NLA media access will continue to work with publishers to educate users on appropriate use, and – where necessary – take action on infringement.

For further information please contact Jenny Crewe jcrewe@nla.co.uk