NewsNow aggregator to pull some newspaper links

Posted by Nestor Bailly on December 15, 2009 at 2:37 PM

NewsNow, an fully automated, 'homegrown' in the UK news aggregator, is to remove links to many national newspaper websites over failure to reach agreement on the Newspaper Licensing Agency Limited's (NLA) proposed "Web Database License" plan.

NewsNow's subscription service provides content snippets from about 37,000 sources in 141 countries for £75 a month; the service will now no longer include links from NLA members because of the disagreement.

The NLA issued a warning that if NewsNow did not sign the License plan, legal action would ensue. This follows the battle between the two organizations over the past year on whether the aggregator is copying other's news for their own profit; the usual aggregation gambit with the standard news source response.

The "Web Database Licence" purported to license NewsNow's use of headlines linking to NLA member publications in NewsNow's subscription service.

Many British news monitoring agencies have already signed the License, including Digital Media Services, Durrants, MediaGen, Precise Media, Press Data, PressIndex and TNS Media Intelligence.

But NewsNow refuses to sign the agreement, calling it "unacceptable and of questionable legitimacy." The managing director and chairman of NewsNow.co.uk, Struan Bartlett, argues that the NLA's license obliges NewsNow to hand over customer details and fails to offer guarantees on the development of costs over time.

"We strongly feel that to accept the NLA's terms would set a dangerous precedent restricting our customers' ability to conduct their business freely. We see this as a 'slippery slope' towards any free-to-access website demanding license fees from any organization for circulating or clicking on links," Bartlett explained.

Basically the disagreement is over the legal status of the License, under what pretenses it can charge for links and content. Bartlett continued, "we have worked extremely hard to seek clarification from the NLA and its solicitors on the legal basis for either NewsNow or our customers requiring a license. I am sorry to say that the NLA has not substantiated the legal basis for its license."

Because NewsNow does not have the resources to fight a costly legal battle over an issue that concerns an entire industry, the aggregator is taking protective measures by removing all links associated with NLA-affiliated websites.

The NLA has taken this a symbolic victory for publishers wishing to charge for their news content.

"We are pleased that NewsNow recognize publishers' right to charge aggregators who offer paid for services," says Andrew Hughes, commercial director at the NLA. "All the major paid-for UK web aggregators except Meltwater have now agreed licenses, so NewsNow's stance does not have a material impact on the market."

Sources: MediaGuardian, Sourcewire