UK High Court Ruling Implies Headlines Are Copyright. Not a Good Idea.

The UK’s High Court has ruled that news monitoring agencies will have to pay publishing companies to use their web content, effectively re-classifying headlines as separate literary works subject to copyright.

The moves follows a legal battle between the Newspaper Licensing Agency, owned by eight of the UK’s largest newspaper groups, and Meltwater, a news monitoring agency. Meltwater plans to appeal against the decision, but if it’s upheld, you can expect a wave of more legal actions, claims that links are copyright and the break down of the UK’s internet industry. Well done High Court.