NLA - newspaper licensing agency

http://www.pdln.info/gfx/PDF/PDLN_statement_Meltwater.pdf

It is disappointing that the PRCA continues to promote a misleading view of the NLA’s licences for paid-for monitoring of newspaper web content. (Pressure must be intensified on NLA, PR Week letters January 22^nd). The casual reader would assume the NLA has imposed licensing without consultation and in the face of vehement customer resistance. The facts are rather different, if less sensational.

Web-monitoring licences result from 18 months consultation with the media monitoring industry. Their final design reflects a high level of engagement at individual company and trade association level - although not with the PRCA, which opted to gesture from the touchline.

The major UK media monitoring companies have accepted web licences because they respect copyright and want fair competition from all players in the market. The vast majority of client companies responding to the NLA recognise publishers deserve a fair price for use of their content - and simply want to know what to do and how charges will affect them.

While confident the Copyright Tribunal will find web licensing fair and reasonable, we regret any uncertainty the process may cause. The NLA will continue to work with the industry to enable vital information services while delivering a fair return to publishers.

The Newspaper Licensing Agency has today written to the Copyright Tribunal arguing that, without having taken a licence, Meltwater News is not entitled to seek a review of the NLA's web licensing scheme. If the Copyright Tribunal accepts the NLA's challenge Meltwater should take a NLA licence for its reference to proceed.

David Pugh Managing Director of the NLA said: 'If Meltwater wants the Copyright Tribunal to review the terms of our web licensing scheme, they should in fairness and in law, first take a NLA licence.

'The vast majority of press cuttings agencies and aggregating services have already agreed to the new licensing structure and are now licensed. Meltwater is an exception. By remaining unlicensed, it has a competitive advantage over other monitoring agencies and has created uncertainty for clients. All monitoring agencies should be on a level playing field.

We are confident that the Copyright Tribunal will recognise that our web licensing scheme is measured and reasonable'.

The Newspaper Licensing Agency's remit was extended to cover paid-for monitoring of newspaper websites from 1 January 2010. The NLA is also building a database - eClips Web - which will increase the quantity and value of newspaper website content available to licensed users when launched in Q2 2010.

January 7th 2010

The Newspaper Licensing Agency (NLA) has written to end users of paid-for newspaper web monitoring to inform them that its new web licences have now come into operation as of 1 January. However, as a result of a referral by Meltwater News to the Copyright Tribunal, the NLA has decided to suspend invoicing for these licences pending the outcome of the referral.

David Pugh, managing director of the NLA, said: “We are confident that the Copyright Tribunal will recognise our web licensing scheme is measured and reasonable. But we do not want any users of licensed newspaper web monitoring services to be disadvantaged by Meltwater’s action. It is essential for us that clients of all monitoring agencies are on a level playing field. We have therefore decided not to invoice clients for their web licence until the Copyright Tribunal has made its ruling.” Subject to that ruling the NLA will invoice clients of all agencies, including Meltwater, with effect from January 2010.

Reaction:

PaidContent: http://tinyurl.com/yjyfjt6

Journalism.co.uk: http://tinyurl.com/yhx3jg2

Press Gazette: http://tinyurl.com/ycro9hx

Speed Communications:  http://tinyurl.com/ykxph2p

PR Week: http://tinyurl.com/yjr4snw

Date: December 2009: The Newspaper Licensing Agency (NLA) has reached agreement with almost all press cutting agencies and web aggregators over the licensing of paid-for business-to-business monitoring of web content. The new NLA web licences will come into force, as planned, on 1 January 2010. Free consumer services are not affected by these plans.

A small number of paid web aggregators, responsible for less than one third of the market, have yet to agree terms with the NLA. The NLA remains hopeful agreement will be reached.

Newspaper publishers, which own the NLA, have written to the these remaining aggregators to express their full support for the NLA’s initiative. The letter makes clear that the publishers and NLA will pursue non-compliant aggregators with technical and/or legal measures as necessary.

David Pugh, managing director of the NLA, said: “We are delighted that the vast majority of the web monitoring industry recognises the clear endorsement of their paid services that this licence structure creates. The licences clarify that the use of content required for monitoring services has the publishers’ full support. This legitimacy removes uncertainty over what is and is not allowed and encourages investment in new and better services by publishers and aggregators.”

ENDS

http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/bulletin/mediapm/article/971194/?DCMP=EMC-MediaPMBulletin

Editorial piece from paidcontent.co.uk: http://paidcontent.co.uk/article/419-news-aggregator-calls-on-newspapers-to-end-legal-action/

The NLA has completed web database licence agreements with leading media monitoring organisations as listed below:-

The new licences give these organisations the right to create and deliver paid media monitoring services including content from over 1,000 UK newspaper websites. The licences form part of the NLA extension of services and licences to newspaper website content. The NLA expects to complete licence agreements with other providers of paid monitoring services in the near future and with users of these services from January 2010. Licensed media monitoring agencies will be recorded at www.nla.co.uk. More details of NLA eClips web database and licensing services are available at www.nla-web.co.uk

Participating Press Cuttings Agencies

Digital Media Services, Durrants, MediaGen, Precise Media, Press Data, PressIndex, TNS Media Intelligence.

The NLA is pleased to invite PR professionals to a briefing session (10th September 2009) on the NLA's latest web initiatives. David Pugh, Managing Director of the NLA will host the session, explaining the NLA's plans, what it means for the industry and inviting questions from attendees. To register please email webbriefing@nla.co.uk or call 0207 332 6036.

Date: Thursday 10th September 2009

Time: 9am

Venue: Guardian Media Group, King's Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU.

July 6th: Response to Bristol PR

The NLA has responded to various comments on the PR Bristol blog. The link to the blog is shown here and our response is printed in full below.

http://prbristol.co.uk/blog/2009/07/06/the-newspaper-licensing-agency-charging-for-weblinks/

You appear to have been misinformed on a number of points, which may raise some unnecessary alarm in your readers. We would like to comment here and calm some nerves.

The NLA is introducing licensing for professional media monitoring businesses that source newspaper content from the internet and sell a monitoring service to their clients. Licensing charges will only affect those client businesses who receive and use digital newspaper cuttings as part of their business. If a PR agency systematically monitors newspapers on behalf of a client, this is commercial use of copyrighted material and you need an NLA licence. The NLA is protecting the rights of the publishers by extending the license to include internet content.

Extra costs for adding web content will be low and incremental. For example, if you are a PR agency that is already monitoring media for a client, it will be £14.50 per year for each client address to add newspaper web content for each client email address. Every firm’s costs will be different. We will be adding a cost calculator to the NLA website very soon and urge you to check that. Alternatively, if you already have an NLA license, you can ring your account manager and they will take you through the changes. Full details can be found at http://www.nla-web.com .

The argument that we are merely “charging for links” is a red herring. Professional media monitoring services copy the entire content of websites, use the copy to index and identify relevant stories, and sell the results (sometimes as full text, sometimes links) to professional users. The commercial value or re-use is significant, as proven by the fees paid. We are simply asking for a fair price for the publishers of the original content.

Both media monitoring agencies and end users of their services will need to pay from January 2010.

July 7th: Response to PRCA on Bristol PR

It is incorrect to suggest that the NLA is being less than direct. We have sought publicity by briefing PR Week, are responding to all comments where raised and have been in consultation with a wide range of stakeholders, including recently the PRCA, for over a year now. We have briefed you directly on the detail of our pricing, and you might acknowledge to readers that this is the source of your ‘inside information’! Advertisements will appear in PR Week next week and we have developed a microsite to inform the market: http://www.nla-web.co.uk . How much more direct can we be? By the time our licensing and database service come to market, we will have been in dialogue for over 18 months.

The NLA estimates that over 95% of PR agencies – if they copy digital content to clients - should see an increase in client copying fees for the inclusion of newspaper web content of less than £100 per year; while the agencies’ own license costs could increase by around 10%, entirely depending on what they do. Licensing fees passed on from aggregators or PCAs supplying a paid-for service to agencies will be in addition – but this will entirely depend on the type of service provided and the degree to which licensing charges are absorbed or passed on – and not something we can easily calculate.

We must challenge you on your assertion that licensing web content is simply sending URLs. It is not. Scraping content from websites (which is what aggregators do) involves accessing and copying newspaper website content. PR companies then send those links (and often article summaries) on to their clients. That is copyright material being used by these companies for commercial gain - this type of commercial use has always been contrary to the newspapers’ terms and conditions. The extension of the NLA licences will permit this activity and legitimise the services of web aggregators.

There are broader questions here for the PR community to reflect on. Is it sensible to expect newspapers to invest in content on the web and then sit on their hands as other businesses make money out of the content that they have published? What would the likely long-term consequences of that model be? Worth a moment’s reflection.

The Newspaper Licensing Agency (NLA) today announced a new business-to-business clippings database for newspaper websites to launch in January 2010. It also has said it will extend its licensing remit to cover newspaper websites from January 2010 .

The new service, called eClips web, will offer a complete feed of newspapers’ online content direct to cuttings aggregators and press cuttings agencies. Powered directly from newspapers’ own content-management systems, eClips web will make web-based media monitoring faster and richer and provide a permanent record for PR and communications professionals.

The NLA will also extend its licensing remit to cover local and national newspapers’ web content from September, with charging taking effect from January.

David Pugh, chief executive of the NLA, said: “We have two aims: to contribute to the growth of web monitoring; and to protect the rights of publishers. Research shows that 23% of newspapers’ online content never appears in print and that the internet is growing in influence as a resource for news. So it’s vital to have comprehensive monitoring coverage of newspapers’ websites – and vital that the publishers are properly rewarded for their work.”

From September 2009, web aggregators that charge clients for their services will require a NLA licence and be charged from January 2010, The press cuttings agencies that either ‘scrape’ content themselves or buy in services from aggregators will also be licensed and charged.

Client companies that receive & forward links from these commercial aggregators within their organisation will also require a licence..

David Pugh added: “We have consulted extensively across the industry – the incremental charges for web cuttings will be low and manageable. I stress this is not about individuals sharing links – we think that’s great for newspapers and promoting their websites and their readership.  What we are doing is making sure that newspapers are rewarded fairly for professional use of their web content.