Copyright Licensing for PR Agencies: CLA and NLA Explained

August 3, 2025 By Rob Doig

Copyright compliance is crucial for PR agencies to legally copy, share and reuse published content. It helps avoid the risk of copyright infringement or legal action. However, there is often confusion about the roles of the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) and NLA media access (NLA), formerly the Newspaper Licensing Agency.

CLA and NLA: What’s the Difference?

Many businesses wrongly assume they need only one licence to cover all types of published material. In reality, CLA and NLA licensing serve different purposes and cover different publications. Each has its own repertoire, meaning a distinct collection of works and rights that it manages and licenses.

CLA (Copyright Licensing Agency) provides permission to copy and reuse content from books, journals, most magazines, and over 10,000 websites, including international publications from the US and beyond.

NLA media access covers UK national and regional newspapers, selected magazines, and over 4,000 websites.

There is no overlap between the two. Any agency copying content from both sets of repertoire will need both a CLA and NLA licence to stay compliant.

This distinction is vital when navigating copyright licensing agency and newspaper licensing requirements in the PR and communications sector.

CLA Licence for PR Agencies : What It Covers

The CLA Business Licence gives organisations blanket permission for employees to copy, print, scan and digitally share published content for internal use. This includes sharing material on intranets, shared drives and internal emails. It supports campaign planning, team collaboration and efficient workflows.

In addition to traditional formats, the CLA Business Licence also includes Workplace Generative AI permissions. This allows teams to copy published content for use in permitted AI tools for analysis, summarisation and ideation. It ensures modern compliance in an AI-enabled workspace. PR agencies can also republish up to five articles at a time on their websites. This enables them to showcase media coverage and build trust with prospective clients.

Media Consultancy Licence: Tailored for PR and Comms

The Media Consultancy Licence complements the Business Licence and is designed specifically for PR, communications and media consultancy agencies.

It offers:

Sharing physical or digital copies of articles
Distributing articles via email or client portals
Forwarding media monitoring content to clients

This licence enables PR professionals to report on media coverage, increase exposure for their clients’ brands and ensure they are compliant with copyright law. By using both CLA and NLA licensing, PR firms uphold copyright governance standards and support authors, publishers and visual artists. For similar permissions for newspapers and magazines represented by NLA, they have a range of licences suitable for PR agencies that complement the CLA licence permissions.

Why Copyright Licensing Matters

With proper licensing in place, agencies can benefit from:

Legal protection and reduced risk of infringement
Simplified internal processes through blanket permissions
Trust from clients and partners
Contribution to the sustainability of the creative industries

As a not-for-profit organisation, the Copyright Licensing Agency plays a vital role in the UK’s creative ecosystem and reinvests licence fees into the creative sector. This ensures rightsholders are paid fairly when their content is used.

What PR Agencies Are Saying

Trevor Palmer, Owner of Tank PR, shares his experience:

“The CLA Licence helps us offer another service to our clients, and has broadened our knowledge of copyright, which helps in our consultancy role. It also helps us strategically to advise clients as to the parameters of their marketing activity – with a licence helping them to further share the results of our work together. It also gives us and our clients peace of mind.

From the first engagement with CLA, I was astonished as to how helpful and reassuring they have been to us and clients with every engagement. I think that there is stigma about copyright in our industry, and we have found that embracing licensing has not been the headache it’s sometimes reputed to be.”

Resources

Find out more about the differences between the CLA and NLA Licences.

Apply for a CLA Licence

Once you complete the online enquiry form, a CLA representative will contact you to discuss your needs and guide you through a simple, one-page application.