I’ve been following the latest  saga regarding paying The Newspaper Licensing Agency for sharing web links. Francis Ingham, Chief Executive of the Public Relations Consultants Association, explains via a video interview why they are appealing to the Court of Appeal against a ruling which decided that media monitoring agencies should pay for using web links.

Mr Ingham describes it as a flawed decision and risks putting an end  to the freedom with which information can be shared and warns:

“The implication is that the mere act of browsing freely accessible websites will require a copyright licence to do so.”

I asked barrister  James Tumbridge who specialises in intellectual property about the implications this had for other shared users of web links, such as myself, as I like to include them with my blog posts to provide an extra source of information and verify a point I am making. His reply shows that bloggers could also be breaking copyright laws by using web links this way:

“The principles apply for blogs and all other online sites. It’s a common misunderstanding in the public that something you can find online is not covered by copyright. The number of daily infringements is huge, and the only thing stopping action is knowledge of who is infringing and the costs of chasing lots of people. However, from time to time these test cases come along that normally lead to considerable uptake in licences thereafter. Many will permit use if proper attribution is given, but not enough people ask for permission.

*I’ve had to remove the video as it makes Firefox crash on my computer, but here is a link to it.