New CLA TDM Licence agreed with Member Organisations

CLA has been working with its member organisations on a new UK Text and Data Mining (TDM) Licence, which makes it legal for companies to copy and use content for TDM purposes.

CLA has developed a new licence that addresses the needs of organisations that want to create efficiencies, speed up processes, and discover new insights by using published content for TDM purposes. The launch date for the licence will be announced soon, and it will be available to all UK businesses and public sector organisations.

What is Text and Data Mining?

Text and data mining (TDM) is the process of using computational techniques to extract valuable insights and patterns from large volumes of information.

Organisations use TDM to gain competitive advantages by uncovering hidden trends, sentiment analysis, and extracting valuable facts and concepts from sources like STM journals, web news sites, and industry reports. This allows them to make informed decisions, enhance customer experiences, and stay ahead in their respective fields.

TDM Licensing

CLA has developed a TDM Licence to allow organisations to store and analyse legally and process copies of copyright-protected published works for internal use while protecting the rights of rightsholders and creators.

In 2023, CLA researched with many content users and rightsholders to identify a range of use cases for a collective licence permitting TDM of the text and images included in published works. As a result, this licence has been developed with a broad scope to cover all these use cases and more.

Uses involving large language models (LLMs) and generative AI are prohibited. CLA is developing licences for generative AI separately and will announce further details soon.

This licence will be offered as a bolt-on to existing CLA business and public sector licences and as a stand-alone licence (incorporating existing licence rights) where the organisation is currently unlicensed. TDM by public sector organisations will be covered where not already permitted by the current exception for non-commercial research.

Mat Pfleger, CLA’s CEO, said:

‘Building on CLA’s unique role in the UK’s creative sector, we have consulted extensively with our Member organisations – PLS, ALCS, DACS and PICSEL – to create a licence that protects and values their creative works while providing an efficient and practical solution for any organisation undertaking text and data mining using published content.’

 

Key features of the TDM Licence

• The CLA TDM licence will include the right to make, store, and analyse copies of whole works published by many UK and international publishers. Publishers can opt-in to receive revenue from this licence through their Publishers’ Licensing Services (PLS) account.
• As with all CLA licences, individual creators can exclude all their works or specific titles from the licence directly with CLA or via ALCS, DACS or PICSEL.
• The licence will cover print and digital titles and publications, magazines, journals, books, and websites to which the Licensee has lawful access.

What the Licence permits

The CLA TDM Licence permits holders to carry out or perform computational analysis on extracts from licensed works solely to identify patterns and trends in those works.

What the licence does not permit

The CLA TDM Licence grants no rights associated with the training or use of Generative AI platforms or Large Language Models (LLMs).

This is the first new licence from CLA covering developments in the ways that content is copied and used. To stay up to date with the development of two further CLA licences covering the usage of published content and generative AI, sign up here: cla.co.uk/ai-and-copyright

For more information about the Text & Data Mining (TDM) Licence, please visit: cla.co.uk/tdm-licence