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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) Decisions >> The Newspaper Licensing Agency Ltd & Ors v Meltwater Holding BV & Ors [2011] EWCA Civ 890 (27 July 2011) URL: https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2011/890.html Cite as: [2012] RPC 1, [2011] EWCA Civ 890, [2012] Bus LR 53 |
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ON APPEAL FROM THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE CHANCERY DIVISION
Mrs Justice Proudman
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
LORD JUSTICE JACKSON
and
LORD JUSTICE ELIAS
____________________
THE NEWSPAPER LICENSING AGENCY LIMITED MGN LIMITED ASSOCIATED NEWSPAPERS LIMITED EXPRESS NEWSPAPERS GUARDIAN NEWS AND MEDIA LIMITED TELEGRAPH MEDIA GROUP LIMITED INDEPENDENT PRINT LIMITED |
Claimants / Respondents |
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- and - |
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MELTWATER HOLDING BV MELTWATER NEWS UK LIMITED PUBLIC RELATIONS CONSULTANTS ASSOCIATION LIMITED |
Defendants Defendants /Appellants |
____________________
WordWave International Limited
A Merrill Communications Company
165 Fleet Street, London EC4A 2DY
Tel No: 020 7404 1400, Fax No: 020 7404 1424
Official Shorthand Writers to the Court)
Michael Silverleaf QC and Andrew Lykiardopoulos (instructed by Baker & McKenzie LLP) for the Defendants / Appellants
Hearing dates : 15 - 16 June 2011
____________________
Crown Copyright ©
The Chancellor :
(1) The headlines to the various articles reproduced in Meltwater News are capable of being literary works independently of the article to which they relate.
(2) The extracts from the articles reproduced in Meltwater News with or without the headline to that article are capable of being a substantial part of the literary work consisting of the article as a whole.
(3) Accordingly the copies made by the end-user's computer of (a) Meltwater News (i) on receipt of the email from Meltwater, (ii) opening that email, (iii) accessing the Meltwater website by clicking on the link to the article and (b) of the article itself when (iv) clicking on the link indicated by Meltwater News are and each of them is, prima facie, an infringement of the Publishers' copyright.
(4) No such copies are permitted (a) by s.28A CDPA dealing with temporary copies, or (b) as fair dealing within s.30 CDPA, or (c) by the Database Regulations.
(5) Accordingly, the end-user requires a licence from NLA or the Publishers, whether or not in the form of the WEUL in order lawfully to receive and use the Meltwater News Service.
PRCA, but not Meltwater, now appeals with the permission of the judge. It contends that the judge was wrong in relation to each of those issues.
"As a matter of law, no licence is required by a UK End User to receive Meltwater News, as the End User commits no act in receiving Meltwater News that infringes any NLA Publisher right."
The same assertion is made in paragraph 30a of PRCA's statement of case and is followed by the explanation that copyright does not subsist in the scrapings independent of the works from which they come or to which they relate. In the particulars of claim in the proceedings commenced by NLA and the Publishers on 24th May 2010 these assertions in the Tribunal proceedings were referred to in paragraphs 18.2 and 21 of the Particulars of Claim and denied in paragraphs 27 and 55 thereof. The Particulars of Claim then proceeded to make the necessary allegations to establish the need for an end-user to have a licence to avoid infringing the Publisher's copyright. As I have said, the claim against Meltwater was stayed by Newey J so that only the liability of an end-user for infringement of copyright is in issue.
"1(1) Copyright is a property right which subsists in accordance with this Part in the following descriptions of work–
(a) original literary…works,
[(b) and (c)]
(2) In this Part "copyright work" means a work of any of those descriptions in which copyright subsists.
[(3)…]
2 (1) The owner of the copyright in a work of any description has the exclusive right to do the acts specified in Chapter II as the acts restricted by the copyright in a work of that description.
[(2)…]
3 (1) In this Part–
"literary work" means any work, other than a dramatic or musical work, which is written, spoken or sung, and accordingly includes–
(a) a table or compilation, and
(b) a computer program;
[(2) and (3)]"
Thus, this issue relates to whether any part of the document on the publisher's website which Meltwater has 'scraped' and incorporated in the version of Meltwater News sent to its client is itself an original literary work within s.1(1)(a) or a substantial part of a literary work on the Publisher's website.
"16 (1) The owner of the copyright in a work has, in accordance with the following provisions of this Chapter, the exclusive right to do the following acts in the United Kingdom–
(a) to copy the work (see section 17);
(b) to issue copies of the work to the public (see section 18);
[(c) and (d)]
(e) to make an adaptation of the work or do any of the above in relation to an adaptation (see section 21);
and those acts are referred to in this Part as the "acts restricted by the copyright".
(2) Copyright in a work is infringed by a person who without the licence of the copyright owner does, or authorises another to do, any of the acts restricted by the copyright.
(3) References in this Part to the doing of an act restricted by the copyright in a work are to the doing of it–
(a) in relation to the work as a whole or any substantial part of it, and
(b) either directly or indirectly;
and it is immaterial whether any intervening acts themselves infringe copyright.
(4) This Chapter has effect subject to–
(a) the provisions of Chapter III (acts permitted in relation to copyright works), and
(b) the provisions of Chapter VII (provisions with respect to copyright licensing).
17(1) The copying of the work is an act restricted by the copyright in every description of copyright work; and references in this Part to copying and copies shall be construed as follows.
(2) Copying in relation to a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work means reproducing the work in any material form.
This includes storing the work in any medium by electronic means.
[(3) and (4)]
(5) Copying in relation to the typographical arrangement of a published edition means making a facsimile copy of the arrangement.
(6) Copying in relation to any description of work includes the making of copies which are transient or are incidental to some other use of the work.
18 (1) The issue to the public of copies of the work is an act restricted by the copyright in every description of copyright work.
(2) References in this Part to the issue to the public of copies of a work are to –
(a) the act of putting into circulation in the EEA copies not previously put into circulation, in the EEA by or with the consent of the copyright owner
or
(b) the act of putting into circulation outside the EEA copies not previously put into circulation, in the EEA or elsewhere,…"
"28A Copyright in a literary work, other than a computer program or a database, or…, is not infringed by the making of a temporary copy which is transient or incidental, which is an integral and essential part of a technological process and the sole purpose of which is to enable -
(a) a transmission of the work in a network between third parties by an intermediary; or
(b) a lawful use of the work;
and which has no independent economic significance."
"30 (1) Fair dealing with a work for the purpose of criticism or review, of that or another work or of a performance of a work, does not infringe any copyright in the work provided that it is accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgement.
(2) Fair dealing with a work (other than a photograph) for the purpose of reporting current events does not infringe any copyright in the work provided that (subject to subsection (3)) it is accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgement.
(3) No acknowledgement is required in connection with the reporting of current events by means of a sound recording, film, broadcast or cable programme."
The expression "sufficient acknowledgement" is defined in s.178 as meaning
"..an acknowledgement identifying the work in question by its title or other description, and identifying the author unless–
(a) in the case of a published work, it is published anonymously;
(b) in the case of an unpublished work, it is not possible for a person to ascertain the identity of the author by reasonable inquiry;"
"The maker of a database which is made available to the public in whatever manner may not prevent a lawful user of the database from extracting and/or re-utilizing insubstantial parts of its contents, evaluated qualitatively and/or quantitavely, for any purposes whatsoever. Where the lawful user is authorized to extract and/or re-utilize only part of the database, this paragraph shall apply only to that part."
This is enacted in regulation 19 of The Copyright and Rights in Databases Regulations 1996 SI 1997/3032 in the following form:
"19(1) A lawful user of a database which has been made available to the public in any manner shall be entitled to extract or re-utilise insubstantial parts of the contents of the database for any purpose.
(2) Where under an agreement a person has a right to use a database, or part of a database, which has been made available to the public in any manner, any term or condition in the agreement shall be void in so far as it purports to prevent that person from extracting or re-utilising insubstantial parts of the contents of the database, or of that part of the database, for any purpose."
"The headlines are often striking and substantial, both in terms of content and in terms of length. They are not usually written by the journalists who write the underlying articles but by editorial staff whose specific functions include the composition of headlines. The ability to compose a headline is a valuable and discrete skill and courses exist to teach it. Headlines require skill in order to fulfil the objective of capturing the reader's attention and inducing them to read the article. Thus a headline frequently has some emotional or sentimental 'hook', it may contain a pun, it may summarise the content of the article to which it relates. The process of final selection of a headline is separate from the selection of the article. Often a number of options will be proposed and the decision will be taken by a senior editor. Occasionally the article will be tailored to fit the headline."
It is clear from paragraph 70 of her judgment that she accepted this evidence at least to the extent that
"…headlines involve considerable skill in devising and they are specifically designed to entice by informing the reader of the content of the article in an entertaining manner."
"71. In my opinion headlines are capable of being literary works, whether independently or as part of the articles to which they relate. Some of the headlines in the Daily Mail with which I have been provided are certainly independent literary works within the Infopaq test. However, I am unable to rule in the abstract, particularly as I do not know the precise process that went into creating any of them. I accept [counsel for NLA]'s submission that it is not the completed work as published but the process of creation and the identification of the skill and labour that has gone into it which falls to be assessed.
72. To the extent that the headlines are, as alleged by [counsel for PRCA], joint enterprises with the articles and part and parcel of those articles, the distinction is one without a difference since Infopaq. The only circumstances in which the distinction would make a difference are where the headline is totally distinct from the article through being independently and separately produced by a different person. Only then might the headline fall into a third category in which it neither formed part of the article nor (if it were insufficiently original) would it constitute an independent literary work. However, as I have said, that is not [counsel for PRCA]'s case. I find that some of the headlines are independent literary works; those that are not form part of the articles to which they relate."
"33 Article 2(a) of Directive 2001/29 [the Information Society Directive] provides that authors have the exclusive right to authorise or prohibit reproduction, in whole or in part, of their works. It follows that protection of the author's right to authorise or prohibit reproduction is intended to cover 'work'.
34 It is, moreover, apparent from the general scheme of the Berne Convention, in particular Article 2(5) and (8), that the protection of certain subject-matters as artistic or literary works presupposes that they are intellectual creations.
35 Similarly, under Articles 1(3) of Directive 91/250, 3(1) of Directive 96/9 and 6 of Directive 2006/116, works such as computer programs, databases or photographs are protected by copyright only if they are original in the sense that they are their author's own intellectual creation.
36 In establishing a harmonised legal framework for copyright, Directive 2001/29 is based on the same principle, as evidenced by recitals 4, 9 to 11 and 20 in the preamble thereto.
37 In those circumstances, copyright within the meaning of Article 2(a) of Directive 2001/29 is liable to apply only in relation to a subject-matter which is original in the sense that it is its author's own intellectual creation."
Although the Court refers to an 'intellectual creation' it does so in the context of paragraph 35 which clearly relates such creation to the question of origin not novelty or merit. Accordingly, I do not understand the decision of the European Court of Justice in Infopaq to have qualified the long standing test established by the authorities referred to in paragraph 19 above.
"44 As regards newspaper articles, their author's own intellectual creation, referred to in paragraph 37 of this judgment, is evidenced clearly from the form, the manner in which the subject is presented and the linguistic expression. In the main proceedings, moreover, it is common ground that newspaper articles, as such, are literary works covered by Directive 2001/29.
45 Regarding the elements of such works covered by the protection, it should be observed that they consist of words which, considered in isolation, are not as such an intellectual creation of the author who employs them. It is only through the choice, sequence and combination of those words that the author may express his creativity in an original manner and achieve a result which is an intellectual creation.
46 Words as such do not, therefore, constitute elements covered by the protection.
47 That being so, given the requirement of a broad interpretation of the scope of the protection conferred by Article 2 of Directive 2001/29, the possibility may not be ruled out that certain isolated sentences, or even certain parts of sentences in the text in question, may be suitable for conveying to the reader the originality of a publication such as a newspaper article, by communicating to that reader an element which is, in itself, the expression of the intellectual creation of the author of that article. Such sentences or parts of sentences are, therefore, liable to come within the scope of the protection provided for in Article 2(a) of that directive.
48 In the light of those considerations, the reproduction of an extract of a protected work which, like those at issue in the main proceedings, comprises 11 consecutive words thereof, is such as to constitute reproduction in part within the meaning of Article 2 of Directive 2001/29, if that extract contains an element of the work which, as such, expresses the author's own intellectual creation; it is for the national court to make this determination."
"84. I was taken by both counsel to very many examples of text extracts with (in some cases) the article from which they were taken. In those cases where the headline is an independent literary work, communication of the headline is itself an infringement of the Publisher's copyright. In those cases where it is not, I see no basis for excluding the headline from the text extract. As I have said, [counsel for PRCA]'s case was put on the basis that the headline is part and parcel of the article and conceived as a joint enterprise with it. He sought to show that in many cases it was derived from or reflective of the underlying article. Accordingly the opening text and the headline together comprise significant and striking features of the article.
85. I cannot decide on all or even any of the individual examples given. However I have no doubt that in many (though not all) cases the text extracts, even leaving aside the headline, do contain elements which are the expression of the intellectual creation of the author of the article as a whole. That is so whether one is applying the test of whether there has been an unfair appropriation of the author's labour and skill which went into the creation of the original article or whether parts of sentences have been appropriated "which may be suitable for conveying to the reader the originality of a publication such as a newspaper article, by communicating to that reader an element which is, in itself, the expression of the intellectual creation of the author." (Infopaq [47]). In most cases the text extracts (and in particular the headline and the opening text) are not merely isolated words or clauses which in themselves convey no meaning. They provide the tone of the article and generally have the special function of drawing the reader in to the work as a whole.
86. As the text extract comprises not only the hit extract but also the headline and opening text, it provides the End User with as clear an idea as possible of the subject-matter and content of the article, within the constraints affecting the permissible number of characters."
(a) the act is temporary;
(b) it is transient or incidental;
(c) it is an integral and essential part of a technological process;
(d) the sole purpose of that process is to enable a transmission in a network between third parties by an intermediary or a lawful use of a work or protected subject-matter; and
(e) the act has no independent economic significance.
The Court amplified those conditions in paragraphs 63 and 64 in these terms:
"63. This finding is supported by recital 33 in the preamble to Directive 2001/29 which lists, as examples of the characteristics of the acts referred to in Article 5(1) thereof, acts which enable browsing as well as acts of caching to take place, including those which enable transmission systems to function efficiently. Such acts are, by definition, created and deleted automatically and without human intervention.
64. In the light of the foregoing, the Court finds that an act can be held to be 'transient' within the meaning of the second condition laid down in Article 5(1) of Directive 2001/29 only if its duration is limited to what is necessary for the proper completion of the technological process in question, it being understood that that process must be automated so that it deletes that act automatically, without human intervention, once its function of enabling the completion of such a process has come to an end."
"Thus the temporary copies exception is solely concerned with incidental and intermediate copying so that any copy which is 'consumption of the work', whether temporary or not, requires the permission of the copyright holder. A person making a copy of a webpage on his computer screen will not have a defence under s. 28A CDPA simply because he has been browsing. He must first show that it was lawful for him to have made the copy. The copy is not part of the technological process; it is generated by his own volition. The whole point of the receipt and copying of Meltwater News is to enable the End User to receive and read it. Making the copy is not an essential and integral part of a technological process but the end which the process is designed to achieve. Storage of the copy and the duration of that storage are matters within the End User's control. It begs the question for decision whether making the copy is to enable a lawful use of the work. Moreover, making the copy does have an independent economic significance as the copy is the very product for which the End Users are paying Meltwater."
In paragraphs 110 she pointed out the consequences if this were not so.
"(33) The exclusive right of reproduction should be subject to an exception to allow certain acts of temporary reproduction, which are transient or incidental reproductions, forming an integral and essential part of a technological process and carried out for the sole purpose of enabling either efficient transmission in a network between third parties by an intermediary, or a lawful use of a work or other subject-matter to be made. The acts of reproduction concerned should have no separate economic value on their own. To the extent that they meet these conditions, this exception should include acts which enable browsing as well as acts of caching to take place, including those which enable transmission systems to function efficiently, provided that the intermediary does not modify the information and does not interfere with the lawful use of technology, widely recognised and used by industry, to obtain data on the use of the information. A use should be considered lawful where it is authorised by the rightholder or not restricted by law."
"The End User does not apply his critical faculties at all to the work, whether the article or the text extracts. The purpose of Meltwater News is merely to enable the End User to decide whether he wants to see the content of the articles. However widely I interpret the expression "criticism or review", I do not see that the End User's activities are comprised within it."
"Be that as it may, it seems tortuous to say that copying for the purpose of seeing mentions of the End Users' clients in the news and the stories with which they have been concerned is "reporting current events". As Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers MR said (in handing down the judgment of the Court of Appeal) in Ashdown at [65],
"The defence provided by section 30(2) is clearly intended to protect the role of the media in informing the public about matters of current concern to the public."
Meltwater News is not intended for public consumption; it is tailored, and addressed exclusively, to particular End Users for their clients' purposes."
"…all the acts of infringement relied on against PRCA's members relate to the contents of the articles. There is nothing suggesting infringement of the arrangement or structure of the website as a database. It is untenable on the case as presented by NLA to suggest that a text extract is a copy of a substantial part of the effort that went into the structure and arrangement of the articles within the website."
"However the issue is not to my mind one of derogation from grant or exhaustion. The outcome hinges on the answer to the very question which I am asked, namely whether the End Users need a separate licence for their activities in relation to Meltwater's services. It cannot be the answer to that question that a mere grant of a licence to Meltwater would obviate the need for a WEUL."
She went on to point out in paragraphs 52 and 53 that PRCA admitted that on receipt of Meltwater News the recipient made further copies on his computer. She concluded in paragraph 54:
"Thus irrespective of whether or not End Users copy text extracts to their clients PRCA admits that receipt of Meltwater News involves copying by the End Users on their computers of material which has already been reproduced by Meltwater."
Lord Justice Jackson
Lord Justice Elias