Content is a precious commodity for publishers, meaning instances of illegal copying come at a cost. Here, in the first of two articles, Matt Aspinall, Head of Commercial Services at NLA Media Access explores the issue of digital copyright infringement, revealing its impact on publishers in the UK and US, and looking at how they are fighting back with NLA’s Text Tracker tool.

Plagiarism, copying and appropriation have been a problem for original thinkers and creators throughout history. And while it might manifest itself in very different ways, this issue continues to have troubling implications for publishers today.

A particular concern is where original journalism is scraped from a website, potentially from behind a paywall, and then republished on a ‘pirate’ site. Less often, but potentially more damaging, is where entire publisher websites are copied, creating a clone of the original.

Copied content and cloned sites

While it manifests itself in very different ways, the issue of copying remains a problem for creators and publishers today. A particular concern is where original journalism is scraped from a website and then republished on a ‘pirate’ site, with paywalled sites not immune to this risk. Increasingly, there are damaging instances of entire publisher websites being copied, creating a clone of the original.

The financial model driving this piracy is typically around monetising the stolen content through programmatic advertising. Because of the valuable nature of publisher content, it is used as a lure to attract audiences, often supported by Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) strategies to increase the numbers of eyeballs. These page impressions then translate into advertising revenue gains for the host domain, disregarding the investment in journalistic and publishing talent.

At the same time, they reflect lost revenues for the publisher. This includes potential income from advertising and content licensing as well as missed opportunities to connect with interested and engaged audiences that would, potentially, become valuable subscribers.

A tool for taking action

The Text Tracker tool, developed by NLA Media Access, proactively scans the web to identify bad actors using publisher content. Once identified and verified as infringements, NLA ensures these articles or entire websites are taken down. In 2023 alone, Text Tracker took down almost three-quarters of a million copied articles.

This service addresses another of the major costs associated with content theft: time. In many cases, the task of tackling piracy falls to in-house teams across multiple departments, and it can be a major distraction.

John Crewe, Data Protection Officer at Haymarket Media, Inc., has responsibility for data, legal and compliance matters of the US-based media company. Haymarket had detected instances of copyright infringement affecting its business-to-business focused titles, but prior to working with NLA, managing the issue in-house was neither scalable nor comprehensive. 

“It was a case of content teams identifying instances of infringement and we would handle individually through cease and desist notices and take down requests with the hosting providers. Despite the diligence of our teams in spotting illegal use, it became apparent that there was more to uncover,” he says.

Tackling a hidden problem

John points to the fact that no single person is likely to have responsibility for content protection; publishers rarely have a single person focused on IP enforcement. The situation is compounded by the fact that many of these instances lack legitimate businesses to deal with or any contact information. Domains could be hidden behind a veil of anonymity and escalating the issue to the hosting provider did not guarantee a response. “That’s where things would get more involved,” says John.

With Text Tracker, however, Haymarket Media has a method to increase its vigilance while also removing the task of issuing takedowns from the in-house team – and all in a scalable package. The initial infringement findings and successful take down results led to the publisher expanding the use of Text Tracker in its first year, more than tripling the number of titles covered by the service.

Costing time and money

For William Reed, publisher of titles including The Grocer, copyright infringement is an issue that has historically taken many forms, from wholesale lifting of large proportions of content to more random instances of individual articles being copied.

“We knew stuff was out there,” says Company Secretary Robert Proctor, “we just weren’t sure how serious the problem was. It was an irritant for us as a business.”

Robert highlights that content theft also became a drain on internal resources, with the company seeking support from external lawyers in large-scale protracted disputes. While these cases may eventually result in success, it was consuming an unwelcome amount of time and money.

William Reed already had a strong working relationship with NLA, and when Text Tracker was presented as a platform for managing the problem of content theft, Robert says it was an obvious choice. What was a costly irritant has quickly become a low-level problem that is consistently and cost-effectively managed.

“Text Tracker is a useful and easy way of ensuring this isn’t a problem for us. It’s saving us time and keeping it under control.”

An investment in content protection

In many ways, managing the risk of content theft can be seen as an unfortunate but essential part of being a 21^st-century digital-first publisher, where copying and copyright infringement are never far from the surface – a situation that has only been reinforced by the advent of generative AI.

With tools such as Text Tracker, however, publishers have the technology to protect their content and cover the investment in creativity that remains at the heart of their business.

To find out more email copyrightinfringement@nla.co.uk