Implications of the Meltwater case

Here are some further thoughts on the implications of the Supreme Court decision in Meltwater: Meltwater and other media monitoring organisations ("MMOs") still need a licence to upload copyright Here are some further thoughts on the implications of the Supreme Court decision in Meltwater:

• Meltwater and other media monitoring organisations ("MMOs") still need a licence to upload copyright material onto their website.


• In-house communications teams who obtain links to online news from MMOs will still require a licence if the reports are sent via email.


• If the email model changes and the CJEU follows the Supreme Court, users will not have to pay a licence fee to read publicly available newspaper content sent from a MMO via a weblink.


• This could lead to more newspaper publishers and other content providers deploying paywalls to protect their online content. The NLA may also increase the licence fee payable by MMOs.


• UK companies should still avoid using headlines to link to newpaper articles in any commercial service without a licence (this was unaffected by the Supreme Court ruling).


• If the CJEU follows the Supreme Court, Internet browsers will not have to obtain express permission to read material online.


• The Supreme Court has expressed a strong policy interest in functional equivalence i.e. copyright should treat viewing material on the Internet in the same way as viewing its physical form.


• Viewing (but not copying or downloading) pirated material will not be an infringement. The Supreme Court didn't think this would lead to mass online piracy but will browsers need to find authorised sources?

Further discussion of this case can be found in an article published on www.ffw.com here.