Navigating your Law Licence: Essential FAQs answered

What content reuse does the CLA Law Licence permit to support the legal sector?

Emailing, sharing, saving to a central server or intranet, printing, photocopying and sharing media clippings are all considered copying and reuse. The CLA Law Licence supports reuse for the following in the legal sector;

How can you check if you have permission to copy a specific work?

Use our easy-to-navigate Check Permissions Tool to check whether a work is included in your CLA licence. Simply enter a search term (title, ISBN, URL, etc.) and your licence type. The search results page will display licence usage permissions of your chosen title.

Is there an extra charge for the Extended Multinational Law Licence?

Yes, there is an extra charge for the Multinational Licence. The fee metric is slightly different to the standard Law Licence from CLA. The UK remains exactly the same under the Multinational Licence. For offices outside the UK, fees are based on an FTE (full-time equivalent employee) basis, so it draws in a headcount figure for your operations outside of the UK.

However, it’s worth pointing out, the fees per FTE employee are significantly reduced on the UK rate because of the way it draws in all members of staff rather than those that qualify for the professional employee criteria in the UK.

Does the Extended Multinational Law Licence for the USA mean that you wouldn’t need a CCC licence?

The CLA Extended Multinational Law Licence could cover all your needs. Our specialist team can talk you through the licence specifics and understand your requirements further before advising. Thanks to the relationship CLA has with CCC, our respective multinational licences include each other’s rights. So, where your firm has a CCC licence in the USA, it is possible to include those rights under a licence with CLA.

This licence option is for firms that are UK headquartered. CLA offers the greatest breadth of coverage for UK headquartered licensees. So, where that is the case, it does mean that you are able to just hold a CLA Licence rather than both licences.

Is there a time limit for how long something can be displayed on an internal intranet, and does that apply to knowledge management systems?

There isn’t a time limit – historically the time limit was 30 days. This is no longer in place – there are no time limits associated with digital copies that are retained under the licence. In relation to using a Knowledge Management System, you can also store copies.

Copies must be deleted upon termination of the licence, except in specific circumstances set out in Clause 8 (8.1-8.3.) of the Law Licence documents.

To what extent, if any, can you reproduce articles internally on an intranet from external websites?

This is permitted, provided the website is included under the CLA repertoire. You can search using the URL on Check Permissions to establish whether something is covered by the licence, allowing you to reproduce that content. If you need to make that available on your intranet then the licence allows you to do that, but it is just a case of ensuring that it’s a website that is covered by the licence.

If you can’t find the website on our Check Permissions tool, and it isn’t listed as excluded for website content, it isn’t covered by the licence.

What is the benefit of CLA Licence when using Document Supply (Doc Del)?

Under your CLA Law Licence, documents received via Institute for Advanced Legal Studies, The British Library (BL On Demand) The Signet Library are unencrypted.

Copyright fee paid (CFP) copies can be supplied with no DRM protection. PDF copies of the articles and documents you request will be delivered, making it easier to share and use the content.

Does The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 cover content reuse?

This act contains a number of exceptions which permit limited copying in certain specified circumstances. The exception for the purposes of parliamentary or judicial proceedings enables copying without prior permission for use in existing proceedings in court or in a tribunal before which members of the Bar are likely to appear. However, copying of any published work including law reports not for use in court or in a tribunal generally require permission.

This would include copies made in anticipation of a case or proceedings being set, reuse of material within a law firm or barristers’ chambers for training purposes and copies circulated to clients or instructing solicitors.

The exception won’t cover all forms of copying likely to take place in a chambers or Firm, so additional licences are likely to be required to ensure compliance and avoid infringement.

Licence enquiries

If you’d like to enquire about a new licence, you can use the form via the form below. Alternatively, you can contact our team on 0204 5120096 or licence@cla.co.uk 

Enter your details below and one of our team will get back to you.

Whether you’re seeking clarification on licence use or want to discuss licence options, we look forward to hearing from you. 

Ethical Imperatives for Compliance and Responsibility

Featured article authored by IP specialist, Colin Hulme

Hulme, the Head of IP at Burness Paull LLP and a distinguished figure with a Band 1 ranking in Chambers UK and recognition in the Legal 500 Hall of Fame, delves into the crucial ethical imperatives surrounding compliance and responsibility in this insightful article.

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