Copyright agency in Glasgow crackdown

Professional firms targeted after whistleblowing appeal

News, 14 December 2005

The Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) is to target professional businesses across Glasgow in a clampdown on illegal photocopying without a licence.

The campaign, to run through December and January, follows a leafleting campaign last month which asked Glasgow office workers to contact CLA in confidence if they thought their employer was photocopying or scanning illegally. The CLA is now following up the calls it received.

Architects, accountants and even lawyers will be approached by CLA regarding the need for a licence to photocopy or scan from published material.

"We believe a number of large Glasgow-based accountants and lawyers are deliberately flouting copyright law. We know who they are, and we'll be knocking on their doors to point out they need a licence for what they are doing", said the CLA's Licensing Manager in Scotland, Jim MacNeilage.

"Employers who allow staff to copy from magazines, books or journals need to have clearance, normally through a CLA Licence, or they could be at risk of copyright infringement. This applies even to copies of short articles or clippings from magazines and other periodicals."

The agency believes many employees do not understand that they may be breaking the law when they push the copy button. "We want employees to be more aware of this so they can take that message back to their bosses", Mr MacNeilage added.

He went on: "The people they could be defrauding are not the millionaire best-selling novelists but people like academic authors, writers and journalists who may only receive a modest income from their published work. We believe in protecting their rights."

CLA, formed in 1982, is a non profit-making company which protects the copyright interests of over 60,000 authors and 1,200 publishers in the UK. It licenses business, education and government to copy extracts from books, journals, magazines and periodicals. Royalties are distributed to authors and publishers and last year £30m was paid out in licence fees.

The cost of a licence depends on the size of the business. A small business licence costs from £95.00 although larger firms would pay more.

CLA will pay a reward up to £20,000 to anyone who provides credible evidence concerning literary copyright infringement that results in a successful legal action.