FAQs

Our business and public administration licences allow unlimited storage on a company intranet provided that the publisher is signed up to our licensing scheme and the publication is covered. To see if a publication is covered under the licence please use the Check Permissions search tool on our website. If the publication is not covered by your licence then you would need to seek clearance from the publisher directly.

You can make copies when you have one of our licences.

Many major magazine titles can be copied under our licences – further information about reusing this kind of content here. Some magazines are licensed by NLA Media Access. You can see if you are covered to copy from any magazine by using our Check Permissions search tool. Permission to copy content from national or regional newspapers is granted by NLA Media Access.

You will need to get permission from the map publisher. Standard licences are available from most major map publishing companies such as Street Map and the Ordnance Survey.

If you are a PR firm, marketing agency or similar and you want to provide copies of news and current affairs articles externally to clients, you need CLA’s Media Consultancy Licence. Providing electronic or hard copies of articles or links by email is not permitted under the standard CLA Business Licence; without the Media Consultancy Licence or direct permission from the rightsholder, your firm could be exposed to the risk of copyright infringement. This includes forwarding clippings and web links received via Media Monitoring Organisations to your clients.

We have introduced new workplace generative AI permissions to our corporate and public sector licences to ensure that our licences continue to support content users in today’s evolving technological landscape. As professionals increasingly use copyright-protected content as prompts in generative AI tools at work, these permissions allow them to do so lawfully and help ensure that rightsholders and creators are fairly remunerated for the use of their work. The new permissions enable professionals to harness the benefits of the latest technology while innovating in a compliant and responsible way, by enabling staff of CLA licensed organisations to prompt certain paid-for, enterprise versions of generative AI tools using published content – for example to summarise a journal article or simplify a paragraph of published text.

When you prompt a generative AI tool using copyright-protected work, you will in most cases require the permission of the rightsholder to use their content in this way.

The indemnity protection provided to users by companies supplying generative AI tools is limited and does not extend to the use of inputs and prompting of published content. The user remains liable under the relevant tool’s terms of use for copyright infringement claims.

The new workplace generative AI permissions in your CLA licence help to address this risk. The licence now permits users to include and make, or permit the making of, digital copies of copyright protected work to prompt permitted generative AI tools to generate outputs.

View a summary table of the new generative AI permissions.

The new permissions cover print and digital publications, including magazines, journals, books, and websites from participating publishers. This includes free-to-view websites and publications to which the licensee has purchased or subscribed. As with all CLA licences, the licensee must have lawful access to the source material.

No. Because the terms of use of most social media platforms permit the use of uploaded content for the purposes of developing, training and/or fine-tuning their generative AI systems, posting outputs generated under the CLA licence on social media is likely to be in breach of the licence terms that prohibit this use.

The amount of content that can be used as a prompt is the same as for our standard licence permissions – up to 5% or one chapter or article, whichever is the greater.

For every year that you hold a relevant licence, you are permitted to post five articles on your website at any one time, but you can remove an article and post another as often as you need as long as there are no more than five on your website at any one time. So for example, if you renew your licence for a second year you will then be able to post an additional five articles and have up to ten posted onto your website at one time. In your third year of the licence this would then total 15 articles. You may remove articles at any time without needing to inform us.

Please contact the publisher directly to request permission. We are adding publishers all the time, so do check back later.

If you find that you need to use more than five articles at any one time, please contact the publishers of those additional articles directly to clear permission. We would be grateful if you could also let us know, as we are always looking to ensure our licences meet our customers’ needs.

You can remove and replace articles as long as you do not post more than five articles in any one year. If you use your full allowance and renew your licence after a year, you may not remove and replace all ten articles that you are permitted to host, but may only remove and replace the f ive articles you have been allocated for that second year.

You can keep the article on your website for as long as you have a relevant licence. We will notify you in the unlikely circumstance that you are required to take down the article.

Text and data mining (TDM) is the automated process of extracting useful information and insights from large amounts of unstructured data, for the purposes of identifying trends, patterns and knowledge. This allows organisations to efficiently and cost-effectively gain insight from a wide range of data sources.

Unstructured data is data that is not actively managed by a database management system. When we think of data we think of binary/factual information like statistics, numbers and facts, when in reality unstructured data makes up 80 – 90% of global data that is being used by organisations.

Unstructured data is less the quantitative content that comes to mind, and more everything we see and use online. Text is the most common type of unstructured data, found in the form of websites, Word documents, online articles, social media posts, reviews, video transcripts, e-books etc. Other types of unstructured data include images, audio and video files.

Most new data generated today is unstructured data, and this data is difficult to store and manage in a conventional database, which is why organisations need tools and processes, such as text and data mining, to manage, analyse and make use of it.

The most common sources of data for TDM include journal articles, books, datasets, images, social media posts and websites. TDM involves accessing and analysing this content, and then extracting and reproducing – at least parts of – these works.

The content used in the TDM process are by default protected by copyright, and while copyright does not apply to accessing and analysing published content it does cover the reproduction of it.

TDM practices go beyond accessing and gathering information from datasets, they extract and reproduce information, and it is this act of copying that is subject to copyright. When it comes to TDM, technology is the substitute for a human viewing or reading something, and then making a copy of extracts of it.

TDM is generally NOT permitted in the UK without a licence due to existing UK copyright law (Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998 or “CDPA”), the one exception to this being for TDM for non-commercial research.

If we have emailed you but you are not the correct contact, please do let us know!  We do try to ensure we notify the right person but if you can suggest a more appropriate contact, we would greatly appreciate it.  This will ensure we can successfully complete the exercise with your organisation as quickly as possible.

If these publications are loaned to other organisations, please include them in your response.

We would always ask that if you are unsure if data should be recorded, please include it in your submission, ideally under the relevant tab.  If you’re unsure which tab to use, please use the “Additional Data” tab, as mentioned above.  Any data which cannot be used in the distribution is filtered out during the validation process undertaken by CLA staff.

Under the terms of the Central Government Licence with the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA), provision was made to collect data from those organisations holding the licence. We understand that not everyone will be able to fully contribute as we know that many library services have closed and some offices may not be fully functioning, but we anticipate that some at least will be able to provide statistics, particularly for digital resources. Please provide as much data as you can within your organisation so that we can achieve a representative sample.

Please send your completed submission cgcopy@cla.co.uk.

You can keep the recording for two weeks after it was made, after which point it should be deleted. 

It’s best to make clear that the recording was made under the Read Aloud Licence.  We recommend a statement like this on or near the file: 

This recording OR live stream has been supplied under a CLA Licence with specific terms of use.  The content in this recording OR live stream is protected by copyright and, save as may be permitted by law, it may not be further copied, stored, on-copied electronically or otherwise shared, even for internal purposes, without the prior further permission of the Rightsholder. 

Only if CLA get in touch and ask you to log it in one of our normal sample Data Collection Exercises, otherwise no. 

The Licence covers internal sharing – so for example via your secure intranet. Putting the recording on a public facing site like YouTube isn’t covered by this licence. 

Yes, a signer can accompany the words. 

The only licence that covers you to share externally – to your public facing sites and feeds for instance – is the CWRL. All other licences and add-ons cover internal copying.

You will be asked about your copying needs when you set up your licence(s), and also at each annual renewal. Outside of this, you will not need to report usage. If you are subscribed to an Media Monitoring Service (MMS), then the MMS will report usage and user numbers to CLA each year, and these will be used to calculate your renewal.

When you sign up to an MMS to receive clippings and links, that is covering the delivery service. In order to access the content delivered, and share it more widely, an NLA Licence is required.

Both print and digital formats are covered, so you can photocopy and scan but also copy and paste or screengrab from opted in titles.

The licences and add-ons are designed to make licensing flexible and bespoke for your needs. Depending on the kind of activity your institution/organisation wants to do, you can opt for different combinations of cover.

Yes, the CLA MMO licence is still required – even if the client does not see the original article or snippet link.

As a regulated, not-for-profit organisation. CLA is recognised by the UK government as a collective management organisation for published material. We exist to support knowledge sharing, protect your company, and champion the creative ecosystem. Our revenue is distributed to our member organisations who pay royalties directly to copyright owners – authors, publishers and visual artists. CLA has generated more than £1.5bn in licence revenues over 40 years, and distributed to over 200,000 publishers and content creators.

The CLA has an MMO Licence for organisations that copy, scrape or index print or online publisher content for the supply of commercial monitoring or aggregation services. The MMO Licence applies to anyone holding a database or index of CLA publisher content for the purpose of providing paid-for services. An application form, which includes Terms & Conditions, can be found here:

NLA Media Access and CLA are mandated by different publishers to represent different content sets. CLA also works with NLA to act as the exclusive agent for all NLA’s UK education licensing.

Print publications are included in the licence on a blanket basis, which means that all UK print magazines and periodicals are included unless they have been explicitly excluded by the rightsholder. With the CLA MMO Licence, you can:

• Photocopy or scan single articles containing items of news or current affairs

• Distribute paper copies to your customers

• Store web snippets or digital copies of websites for up to 13 months

• Make digital copies of web content available to your customers on a secure web portal for up to 13 months

If you have selected ‘Licence for cuttings and for website monitoring’ on the application form, you may:

• Index the website content
• Store website content for up to 13 months for evaluation purposes
• Email your customers links to single articles containing items of news or current affairs, accompanied by a headline or extract of no more than 256 characters
• Where the website is free-to-view and the publisher has indicated that this is permitted, create and make available PDF copies of articles on a secure web portal

We are working to a go-live date of 1 August 2024.

If your HEI uses the DCS, you will be able to place an order through the ‘order from EHESS’ button as usual. The CLA team will then liaise with the British Library to manage the order to closure or upload of scan.

If you usually order directly from the British Library, please continue to do so. The team there will pick up and manage your order directly.

If you normally order via Talis Aspire, please order place your EHESS requests by emailing the British Llibrary directly at E-Hess@bl.uk until further notice.

The copyright fee element of an EHESS fee is set by the publishers for their titles. There is an agreed default fee for any title where the publisher has not set a specific fee (currently £30 for a book chapter and £38 for a journal article). In the automated EHESS process, HEIs would see the fee before placing the order. In the more manual interim process, this won’t be possible.

We aim to limit the number of email interactions by requiring HEIs to only place an order if they accept up to £40 for the copyright fee. This is close to the default fee and accounts for around 80% of requests over the past 2 years. If a fee is above £40, the British Library will inform the HEI, who can then take the decision to order at this price or not.

We will monitor the service to ensure the pre-approved price cap serves a balance of control for HEIs and FEIs, and manageability for the British Library.

The British Library used to receive and manage the majority of orders via API, and had automated internal systems for almost all aspects of the service. These have not yet been rebuilt and so the management and processing of orders will be more manual. This naturally takes more time.

Since the British Library doesn’t yet have all digital systems running, the service will be provided in a more manual way. Key differences include:

• An increased supply turnaround (from 48 hours to 4 days)
• A pre-approved copyright fee acceptance of up to £40 per extract
• A cancellation limit of 24 hours from placing an order (after which the order will be in process and so cancellation will not be possible)
• This service currently applies to print material only, not digital sources

Any member of staff can copy under the Licence – but some HEIs do restrict the making of digital copies for course provision to certain members of staff. It depends how your HEI has decided to best manage its obligations under the Licence. If you are not sure, please contact your CLA Licence Co-ordinator or Copyright Advisor.

Our standard licence lets an institution copy an extract from a published work – e.g. a single chapter from a book, two articles from a magazine, or 10% of the total publication.

Second Extract Permissions Service offers institutions the option to buy permissions on a pay-as-you-go basis for an additional amount – a ‘second extract’ – e.g. another chapter, two articles, or 10%. Discover more about SEPS here. Additionally, where a journal issue (or a substantial part of it) is devoted to a particular theme, and the journal is not a CCC Electronic Rights-Work, you can copy any number of articles devoted to that particular theme.

Registered students and members of staff – and, if your institution is collaborating with another licensed HE institution on a research project, staff and postgraduate students of that institution (please see our separate guide for more information). Copies made for students in connection with a Course of Study are subject to specific conditions and reporting requirements.

You can copy up to the following amount for each course (or each individual purpose, such as a staff training event or meeting), whichever is the greater:

• 1 whole chapter from a book
• 2 whole articles from a magazine/journal issue (or any number of articles, see below)
• 1 whole scene from a play
• 1 whole paper from a set of conference proceedings
• 1 whole report of a single case from a volume of judicial proceedings
• 1 short story, poem or play (not exceeding 10 pages in length) from an anthology

OR 10% of the total publication.

Additionally, where a journal issue (or a substantial part of it) is devoted to a particular theme, and the journal is not a CCC Electronic Rights-Work, you can copy any number of articles devoted to that particular theme. 

The DCS is available to all HEIs with a CLA HE Licence at no extra cost. If you’re interested in a product demo, or would like to get started, contact our team on intouch@cla.co.uk

The CLA Education Licence does not allow you to share copies made under the Licence with anyone outside of your organisation. Please see the user guidelines and terms and conditions of the CLA Education Licence for the definition of who is considered an authorised user.

You can make copies up to the extent limit (5% / one chapter or article) per course per academic year and per student contingent, i.e. if you want to make copies from the same book for a different course with a different set of students, the full extent limit for the publication applies again to that course and student contingent.

If the students are registered with the FE college, then the 5% / one chapter extent limit applies. The 10% / one chapter extent limit is only available to CLA Higher Education Licensees.

All state-funded schools in the UK hold the CLA Licence through central agreements with regional education bodies. Most Independent schools also hold the licence, but just check with IAPs, SCIS or CLA.
We license sixth-form colleges and further education colleges directly, so just get in touch with CLA if you’re unsure that your institution has the licence.

Staff and students at your school or college can receive copies made under the licence. The key thing to remember is that the copy must be secure to your institution. It should not be shared outside the school, or put on a public facing website.

This service provides a way to purchase CFP copies, which can sit in your library stock and/or be copied under the CLA Education Licence. This differs from Library Privilege or Inter Library Loans, where material is supplied but cannot be used under the Licence, as your Institution does not own the content.

If you do not hold a copy of the original item in your collection you will need to order using the Copyright Fee Paid service. One Copyright Fee Paid copy can be used over multiple courses, as long as the material is still included in the relevant CLA Licence and is within the extent limits for that licence.

If you are purchasing a CFP copy to place in your library stock, then no, but if you intend to copy the material then any purchases made via EHESS or EFESS should be checked against the Check Permissions search tool before ordering to ascertain Licence coverage.

If you have a question about your invoice or balance, or would like to top up your deposit, please contact education.renewals@cla.co.uk

Please contact customer@bl.uk 

If you do not hold a copy of the original item in your collection you will need to order using the Copyright Fee Paid service. One Copyright Fee Paid copy can be used over multiple courses, as long as the material is still included in CLA’s Licence and is within extent limits.

If you are purchasing a CFP to place in your library stock, then no, but if you intend to copy the material then any purchases made via EFESS should be checked against the Check Permissions search tool before ordering to ascertain Licence coverage.

It is entirely up to you whether you choose the pre-pay option or to pay monthly. There is a reduced service charge when paying in advance.

Payment is made to the CLA. You can pay monthly or pay in advance. Invoices and statements will be despatched from the CLA on a monthly basis. Once CLA has received transaction data from the British Library, it will be accessible to view online via a link issued when your account is confirmed.

Yes. A signed Agreement with the CLA is required and an additional account with the British Library dedicated to your EFESS orders will need to be set up.

The Education Platform is provided at no additional cost to holders of the CLA Education Licence.

Your institution needs to be registered on the platform, and each teacher or other member of staff needing access will also need to register.

The Education Platform is provided at no additional cost to holders of the CLA Education Licence.

Your institution needs to be registered on the platform, and each teacher or other member of staff needing access will also need to register.

All state-funded schools in the UK hold the CLA Licence through central agreements with regional education bodies. Most Independent schools also hold the licence, but just check with IAPs, SCIS or CLA.
We license sixth-form colleges and further education colleges directly, so just get in touch with CLA if you’re unsure that your institution has the licence.

The CLA Education Licence covers individual educational establishments on a single school’s site, and copies can be shared with teachers in an individual school.

These copies may not be shared across a group of schools such as a MAT.

Staff and students at your school or college can receive copies made under the licence. The key thing to remember is that the copy must be secure to your institution. It should not be shared outside the school, or put on a public facing website.

You can make as many copies as are needed to see that each student and any staff supporting the class has access to a copy. It’s fine to put the copy on the VLE or intranet, just make sure it’s secure to your school or college.

Please contact the DCS team at the CLA via this email address: InTouch@cla.co.uk

In partnership with the British Library, CLA are able to offer an efficient, cost-effective document supply service for all UK HEIs: the Enhanced Higher Education Supply Service (EHESS). The workflow is built into the DCS, giving an efficient, streamlined service. EHESS orders are charged on a per-order basis. 

The DCS integrates with six major Library Management Systems: ExLibris Alma, SirsiDynix Symphony, Capita Alto, OCLC Worldshare, Innovative Sierra and PTFS Koha. Integrations are quick and easy to set up and allow automatic checks of ownership of material in your library catalogue. 

The DCS also integrates with 4 major Reading List Management Systems: ExLibris Leganto, Talis Aspire, Kortext Keylinks and SirsiDynix BLUECloud. With an integration, digitisation requests can be made directly from the reading list itself, with links to students shared automatically, saving library teams time copying and pasting links to VLEs or other reading lists. 

None of these integrations are essential. The DCS still works, and users can benefit from the shared repository, even if an institution doesn’t integrate with any of the above. 

The DCS offers an integrated student reader to give your students a full online reading and learning experience, with the option to print and download. The reader is provided by Kortext, and students can create or sign into the reader with their Kortext credentials to access advanced features such as highlighting, bookmarking and email notes. 

Library and digitization teams do. Lecturers, tutors and students will never see the DCS interface, only the links shared on reading lists or VLEs. CLA’s dedicated DCS team will provide library teams with a full demo of the DCS and walk you through how to make requests based on your HEI’s preferences. They will also help you set up any integrations you may be interested in using.  

Students will need to authenticate in order to view the content you share via the DCS. HEIs can choose from EZProxy, Shibboleth or, OpenAthens, as well as IP authentication for on campus access. If your HEI does not use any of these methods, we can set you up with manual authentication. 

Please contact the DCS team at the CLA via this email address: InTouch@cla.co.uk

In partnership with CLA, ICLA are making the EHESS service available to Irish HEIs with all the benefits of reduced cost and streamlined workflow. EHESS orders are charged on a per-order basis. 

The DCS integrates with six major Library Management Systems: ExLibris Alma, SirsiDynix Symphony, Capita Alto, OCLC Worldshare, Innovative Sierra and PTFS Koha. Integrations are quick and easy to set up and allow automatic checks of ownership of material in your library catalogue. 

The DCS also integrates with 4 major Reading List Management Systems: ExLibris Leganto, Talis Aspire, Kortext Keylinks and SirsiDynix BLUECloud. With an integration, digitisation requests can be made directly from the reading list itself, with links to students shared automatically, saving library teams time copying and pasting links to VLEs or other reading lists. 

None of these integrations are essential. The DCS still works, and users can benefit from the shared repository, even if an institution doesn’t integrate with any of the above. 

The DCS offers an integrated student reader to give your students a full online reading and learning experience, with the option to print and download. The reader is provided by Kortext, and students can create or sign into the reader with their Kortext credentials to access advanced features such as highlighting, bookmarking and email notes. 

Library and digitization teams do. Lecturers, tutors and students will never see the DCS interface, only the links shared on reading lists or VLEs. CLA’s dedicated DCS team will provide library teams with a full demo of the DCS and walk you through how to make requests based on your HEI’s preferences. They will also help you set up any integrations you may be interested in using.  

Students will need to authenticate in order to view the content you share via the DCS. HEIs can choose from EZProxy, Shibboleth or, OpenAthens, as well as IP authentication for on campus access. If your HEI does not use any of these methods, we can set you up with manual authentication. 

Gallwch gadw’r recordiad am bythefnos ar ôl iddo gael ei wneud, ac ar ôl hynny dylid ei ddileu.  

Mae’n well ei gwneud hi’n glir bod y recordiad wedi’i wneud o dan y Drwydded Darllen yn Uchel.   Rydym yn argymell datganiad fel hyn ar y ffeil neu’n agos ati:  

Mae’r recordiad NEU’R ffrydiad byw hwn wedi’i ddarparu o dan Drwydded y CLA gyda thelerau defnydd penodol. Mae’r cynnwys yn y recordiad NEU’R ffrydiad byw hwn yn cael ei ddiogelu gan hawlfraint ac, ac eithrio fel y caniateir gan y gyfraith, ni ellir ei gopïo, ei storio, ei gopïo’n electronig na’i rannu fel arall ymhellach, hyd yn oed at ddibenion mewnol, heb ganiatâd pellach ymlaen llaw gan y Deiliad Hawliau.

Dim ond os bydd y CLA yn cysylltu ac yn gofyn i chi ei gofnodi yn ystod un o’n Hymarferion Casglu Data sampl arferol. Fel arall, na.  

Mae’r Drwydded yn cwmpasu rhannu mewnol – drwy eich mewnrwyd ddiogel, er enghraifft. Nid yw’r drwydded hon yn caniatáu i chi roi’r recordiad ar safle cyhoeddus fel YouTube.  

Gallwch, gall arwyddwr gyd-fynd â’r geiriau.  

CLA’s Copyright in the Workplace course provides a foundational understanding of copyright law in the workplace. The Copyright Companion tool has been developed to further support employees with ongoing questions around copyright, and permissions granted under the CLA Business Licence. The course and supporting tool are beneficial for all levels of employees across all departments in your organisation, especially those who use and share content.

Both products will educate your teams on the basics of copyright, the permissions within the CLA Licence and how their day-to-day actions may result in a copyright compliance risk.

This online course takes between 30 to 40 minutes to complete.

The course covers the following areas:

1. The basics of copyright.

2. Copyright Licences (Creative Commons, Public Domain & Blanket Licences).

3. Collective Management Organisations (CMOs): what are they and how do they work?

4. Copyright exceptions.

5. Consequences of copyright infringement.

6. Roles and responsibilities in the copyright ecosystem.

7. Permissions granted under the CLA Business Licence

Yes! Please contact us directly to discuss your specific needs and customisation options.

There is also an option to host this course on your own internal learning platform.

To discuss bespoke packages please contact our team on support.copyrightcourses@cla.co.uk who will be happy to help.

Pricing is dependent on business size (there is no restriction on user numbers). If your organisation is a CLA licence holder, your business will receive a significant discount. Please enquire directly for further details.

Our business and public administration licences allow unlimited storage on a company intranet provided that the publisher is signed up to our licensing scheme and the publication is covered. To see if a publication is covered under the licence please use the Check Permissions search tool on our website. If the publication is not covered by your licence then you would need to seek clearance from the publisher directly.

You can make copies when you have one of our licences.

Many major magazine titles can be copied under our licences – further information about reusing this kind of content here. Some magazines are licensed by NLA Media Access. You can see if you are covered to copy from any magazine by using our Check Permissions search tool. Permission to copy content from national or regional newspapers is granted by NLA Media Access.

You should contact the original creator of the work if it is unpublished, or the publisher otherwise. If the work was created during the course of employment then the employer will generally be the copyright owner rather than the individual.

You will need to get permission from the map publisher. Standard licences are available from most major map publishing companies such as Street Map and the Ordnance Survey.

On each occasion, you may copy a chapter of a book, a single article from a periodical, or up to 5% of a publication, whichever is the greater. For digital publications such as websites that are not conventionally structured, you should ensure that copying is limited to small extracts that are equivalent to these limits.

Any UK employee in your organisation, including individual consultants or agency workers, can make and receive copies. Any overseas employee in your organisation can receive digital copies (intranet and email) for viewing only (unless your company holds a CLA Multinational Licence).

CLA has agreements with similar agencies in most major overseas territories enabling International publications and content to be copied under the CLA Licence. For full details of these overseas agencies and the countries that are covered please visit cla.co.uk/international/territories

You can make copies when you have one of our licences.

Many major magazine titles can be copied under our licences – further information about reusing this kind of content here. Some magazines are licensed by NLA Media Access. You can see if you are covered to copy from any magazine by using our Check Permissions search tool. Permission to copy content from national or regional newspapers is granted by NLA Media Access.