CorpComms Magazine

Media monitoring agency Meltwater and the Public Relations Consultants Association have been granted the legal right to continue their case against the Newspaper Licensing Association's web database licence fee.

Last month, the Copyright Tribunal heard a NLA application challenging Meltwater's entitlement to oppose the NLA digital licence without having first taken a licence itself. The Tribunal has ruled in favour of the Norwegian software company, though the full reasoning behind its judgment is still pending.

Richard Ellis, communications director of the PRCA, welcomed the decision: 'We are delighted by this initial ruling and look forward to hearing the Tribunal's detailed reasoning. It is over a year until the trial begins in earnest and in the meantime we will continue to lobby both the government and the opposition to highlight our objections to the NLA's proposal.'

David Pugh, managing director of the NLA, has his eyes on the court proceedings in the coming year. 'We are engaged in the tribunal process and await the trial which will run during the course of 2011,' he said.

The NLA suspended invoicing for new web licences in January following Meltwater's proposed legal action against what it terms a 'tax on hyperlinks'.

Another procedural hearing is scheduled for June before the trial itself begins in February 2011. 

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