What we do
We license organisations to copy articles and extracts from books, journals, magazines and digital titles.
Our licences provide easy, legal access to copyright publications.
Who needs a licence?
Most organisations make use of published information at some time and this includes photocopying or scanning from subscriptions, library stocks, press cuttings or other holdings or copying from electronic or online publicationsi. Under copyright law, such copying usually requires the permission of the copyright owner in advance.
This applies whether you are a business, public body, government department, school, college or charity.
How does the licence work?
Standard CLA licences provide ‘blanket’ permission to enable organisations to copy from all magazines, books and journals published in the UK and mandated territories overseas, apart from those titles on the List of Excluded Categories and Excluded Works.
Our licences authorise copying from a very wide selection of print and digital publications in return for a single annual payment. There are different licences for different sectors.
Where does the money go?
We undertake surveys and audits of licensees in order to help us pay the authors, artists and publishers whose works are being copied.
During the financial year 2006-7 CLA distributed £47.8m to rightsholders, an increase of almost £7.5m on the year before.
These distributions included over £9.7m for copying in schools, over £9.9m for copying in Higher Education Institutions and over £9m for copying by businesses.
All the money we collect in licence fees is distributed to authors, publishers and visual creators after our costs of 11% have been deducted.
After costs, over 99% of the fees CLA collect are paid out on a title specific or transactional basis and allocated according to statistically representative methods. We also make non title specific distributions.
International
CLA also has an international division that works to ensure that the rights mandated to CLA are appropriately licensed, protected and remunerated worldwide. It works to develop better links, standards and systems with other Reproduction Rights Organisations (RROs) and create an international environment where copyright is stronger and the value of creativity is better protected.
CLA is working closely with other RROs and the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations secretariat (IFRRO) (http://www.ifrro.org/) towards the development of international standards and ways of making the exchange of fees and data more efficient and cost-effective.
Agreements with other countries enable UK rightsholders to get fees from when their works are copied abroad and extend the international repertoire from which CLA’s licensees can copy. See the current list of International territories.
For more information see the International section of this website.
Compliance
CLA has a compliance arm, Copywatch (www.copywatch.org), responsible for preventing illegal photocopying or scanning of books, journals and magazines.
Copywatch offers rewards of up to £100K for credible evidence of copyright infringement.
CLA is also a member of the Alliance Against IP Theft (www.allianceagainstiptheft.co.uk) and a corporate affiliate member of the Trading Standards Institute (www.tsi.org.uk).
