The Copyright Tribunal has accepted in full the proposed copyright licences from media monitoring companies Meltwater and Isentia following a four-year battle.
Meltwater and Isentia had been locked in a stoush with the Copyright Agency over a proposed licence structure which would have resulted in a 300 per cent increase in costs for the businesses.
The Copyright Agency had attempted to introduce an industry-wide media monitoring licence, which it said would better cater for digital news.
Meltwater and Isentia had argued that the proposed industry-wide licence was unfair and excessive.
The Copyright Tribunal ultimatelyt accepted copyright licences from both Meltwater and Isentia, as well as ruling that Meltwater is now able to enjoy an expanded set of rights regarding the use and distribution of the content across Asia Pacific.
David Hickey, Executive Director, APAC for Meltwater commented: “Meltwater is absolutely delighted with the Tribunal’s decision. It is a complete vindication of our efforts over the course of the last four years, and of our commitment to our customers.
“This fight was never about trying to avoid paying a fair payment for content licences. Rather we were seeking to establish a fair and even playing field and to ensure that our customers would be able to continue to enjoy the level of service and value that we provide them, at a price that would still be feasible for them to pay for that service.
“Along the way, our peers joined us in this endeavour and one of them had the conviction to stay the course. We can be proud of today’s ruling.”
Isentia Chief Executive, Ed Harrison said: “We are pleased with the Tribunal’s decision, but this is not about winners and losers. We believe this is a major achievement. We were always seeking the establishment of a long-term framework that would provide a level playing field for media monitoring organisations, fair prices for our clients, and ongoing certainty for all participants including publishers”.
“Isentia has continuously led the way in championing copyright compliance alongside fair and reasonable terms for media intelligence clients and we are proud to be able to support the funding of high-quality journalism in this way”.
