UK Copyright Tribunal's Final Decision in "Meltwater v NLA"

Controversy arose out of a couple of licences promoted by NLA in 2010, the so-called the Web Database Licence ("WDL”) and Web End Users Licence (“WEUL”). The WDL/WEUL relate to the type of media monitoring activity carried out by Meltwater.

 

The NLA contended that the nature of Meltwater’s business meant that both it and its customers needed to take out WDL and WEUL agreements. Meltwater’s position was that it was prepared to enter into the WDL and undertook to do so, but that its customers did not have to enter into the WEUL at all.

 

In a nutshell, Meltwater’s point was that the material sent to customers was too insubstantial to be a copyright work or to be a substantial part of the original news article. Copying the material would not infringe (if there was no licence), and so copying the material was, in their opinion, not a restricted act.

 

The findings of the Tribunal were however that end users of a headline only service should enter into the WEUL just like end users of the normal Meltwater News, and should be subject to the same tariff rates.

 

Since the interim decision of the Copyright Tribunal, the parties have worked together to reach an agreement on the details of the licensing payment model, with a revised fixed price. Now, the Tribunal has accepted the terms proposed by the parties. Compared to the first licensing scheme, the agreement includes, inter alia, reduced rates for the smallest users with a low number of employees, and increased rates for the users with a high number of employees.