The Newspaper Licensing Agency (NLA) and its shareholder members have won a copyright case against two companies operating the media monitoring service, Meltwater News, as well as the Public Relations Consultants Association Limited (which represents certain users of the Meltwater News service). The High Court concluded that some of the headlines put forward in the case were independent literary works. The other headlines were considered to form part of the articles to which they relate.

This is the first time a UK Court has directly addressed the issue of whether copyright subsists in newspaper headlines, and the decision is of particular interest given the recent Australian decision of Fairfax v Reed [1], where it was found that copyright did not subsist in the particular headlines in question.

In her decision, Mrs Justice Proudman discussed the comments of Justice Bennett in Fairfax, but said that, “The evidence in the present case (incidentally much fuller than that before Bennett J in Fairfax…) is 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”. [2]

“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”. [3]

Read the full decision at:

http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2010/3099.html

[1] Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd v Reed International Books Australia Pty Ltd [2010] FCA 984

[2] The Newspaper Licensing Agency Ltd & Ors v Meltwater Holding BV & Ors [2010] EWHC 3099 (Ch), at 70

[3] As per [2], at 71