Cutbot Ltd and NLA media access Copyright Tribunal issues final decision

The Copyright Tribunal has today given its decision on the reference made by the online media monitoring service Cutbot.  The decision confirms an earlier order by the Copyright Tribunal, made in May 2012, which approved the terms of NLA’s licensing following the original challenge by Meltwater Group.

The Tribunal has:

• Upheld all of the licensing terms relating to the NLA media access Web Database Licence (WDL) for media monitoring agencies that were disputed by Cutbot.
• Confirmed that the licence fees are fair and reasonable.

Key points made by the Copyright Tribunal in coming to its decision include:

“There is no evidence that any licensee other than Cutbot finds the existing WDL tariff unacceptable, whereas there is evidence that a number of licensees find the existing WDL acceptable and do not wish to have that tariff changed.”

“Although Cutbot argued that the current structure acts as a barrier to entry to the market by small operators no evidence was presented by Cutbot to support this assertion.  There was however evidence that a number of licensees with fewer clients than Cutbot have taken out a WDL.  This is an indication that the fees are not acting as a barrier to entry by small players into the market.”

“We do not consider that it would be reasonable for the copyright owners to receive nothing or very little by way of a licence fee simply because the licensee has few clients.”

David Pugh, Managing Director for NLA media access said:

“NLA media access is pleased that the Tribunal recognised the economic value of publishers’ editorial content and the value obtained by monitoring agencies in copying it in order to provide alerting and evaluation services to their clients. 

“The Tribunal observed that Cutbot was not supported in its objections by any other monitoring agencies, which is unsurprising as NLA arrived at these licence terms through thorough extensive industry consultation.

“This ruling reinforces the important principle that a fair price must be paid by organisations whose business model relies upon commercialising publishers’ copyrighted content.”

Background

NLA media access first introduced web licences on 1st January 2010, giving media monitoring organisations (MMOs) and their clients the right to make commercial use of content published on newspaper websites.  Licensing affects those businesses that supply and receive headlines, text extracts and links to newspaper websites as a part of a paid-for media monitoring service.

In making its decision, the Copyright Tribunal noted that the rest of the media monitoring market, including Meltwater, was now being licensed under existing arrangements, following the earlier decision.  A list of the UK media monitoring agencies that have entered into the Web Database Licence can be found here. 

About NLA media access

Originally called the Newspaper Licensing Agency, NLA media access is owned by eight national newspaper companies and protects the publishing industry's copyright through collective licensing.   It now represents the rights of 1,400 national, regional and foreign newspapers, over 750 magazines and 1,100 + websites.

NLA media access gives permission for organisations to copy from an extensive range of newspapers, magazines and websites and provides database services to both media monitoring agencies and publishers. In 2013 more than 200,000 organisations relied upon NLA media access annual licences.

Eighty per cent of the company’s revenues are returned to the publishers to be invested back into the industry. In 2013 NLA media access revenues equated to the salaries of 1100 journalists.

For more information contact David Pugh dpugh@nla.co.uk or Andrew May on andrew.may@theopen-road.com / 020 3542 1119