Copy checking.(Newspaper Licensing Agency)

Byline: Andrew Hughes

Copy checking

A newspaper copyright agreement is a good thing to have, but you might want to check there isn't something already in place, says NLA Digital's MD Andrew Hughes

While anyone would be sympathetic to the copyright sensitivities of a provider of high-priced market research -- where 50 pages can sell for more than [pounds sterling]2,000 -- it's sometimes harder to feel the pain of the press baron who prints two million copies of the Daily Beast and expects you to observe the niceties. While we are all trained to take copyright seriously, some copyright is instinctively easier to respect.

But observing copyright is a legal requirement and publishers will always be sensitive to what you do, or allow to be done, with their content. Content is their lifeblood, and digital publishing makes them more sensitive than ever over unlicensed use.

Most of us are aware that newspaper circulation continues to fall, as does advertising share, and profitability. It's not a context in which newspaper owners will turn a blind eye.

A practical issue is that the value of each piece of news content is small, and many users may copy such data, so the administrative burden of getting permission is significant.