MMO Licensing FAQ

Do Media Monitoring Organisations and the Copyright Agency work together?

Media monitoring organisations (MMOs) in Australia require a Copyright Agency licence to legally copy and share news articles with their customers.

As part of those licence arrangements, Copyright Agency licensed MMOs act as our agent to provide a copyright licence to their customers called a Downstream Licence. Copyright Agency’s Downstream Licence enables customers of licensed MMOs to share certain content received from their MMO within their organisation.*

As of 1 July 2023, Copyright Agency has licensing agreements in place with four MMOs: Gerathy & Madison, Isentia, Meltwater and Streem.

What is covered by Copyright Agency’s Downstream Licence?

The Downstream Licence covers full text articles, or a Portion of an article (a Portion is defined as an extract from a new article comprising of the headline, a link and up to the greater of 50 words, 255 characters of the first sentence) that you receive from a Copyright Agency licensed MMO. Copyright Agency licensed MMOs mark their content with words such as “Licensed by Copyright Agency”.

For avoidance of doubt, content from The Australian and the Australian Financial Review are not covered by the Downstream Licence. Check with your MMO as to any terms and conditions applicable for those publications.

Who is covered by the Copyright Agency’s Downstream Licence?

The Downstream Licence covers “Nominated Users” which is defined as each of your employees and any person retained to provide services to you (excluding public relations, media and marketing companies), the total number of which you have notified your MMO at the start of your agreement.

You can update your number of Nominated Users once every 12 months.

What can I do with the Downstream Licence?

If you obtain full text articles from your MMO (as plain text, jpg or PDF formats), under Copyright Agency’s Downstream Licence you can*:

  • Copy the full text clip via printing out a hardcopy, photocopying or digital copying.
  • Communicate the full text clip to Nominated Users either via intranet or email.
  • Store the full text clip in an email, database or on an intranet for up to 12 months after you received that copy.

If your MMO sends your organisation Portion of an article (as defined above), with Copyright Agency’s Downstream Licence you can*:

  • Make a copy of the snippet of text.
  • Communicate the snippet of the article to Nominated Users by posting to an intranet or via email.
  • Store the snippet in an email, database or on an intranet for up to 12 months after you received that copy.

Do I need any additional licences or permissions if I already have a Downstream Licence?

Additional licences or permissions are required in circumstances such as:

  • If you receive press clippings or Portions from a public relations or communications agency.
  • If you’re a public relations or communications agency and send press clippings or Portions to your clients.
  • If your organisation supplements your MMO service with media monitoring done in-house (i.e. personal subscriptions or Google alerts).
  • Where you do anything beyond the terms of Copyright Agency’s Downstream Licence with the content you receive from your MMO. For example:
    • sending articles or Portions to clients, your public relations or communications agency, or to media analysis companies,
    • posting articles or Portions to your social media, extranet or website,
    • storing articles or Portions for longer than 12 months, or
    • using the articles or Portions for education or training purposes.
  • If you receive content from The Australian from your MMO and wish to use that content beyond any terms and conditions applicable under your MMO’s direct arrangements for that publication.
  • If you receive content from the Australian Financial Review through your MMO and wish to use that content beyond the terms and conditions of your organisation’s corporate subscription.
  • If you received a Portion of an article from your MMO and wish to use the full article found at the link beyond the terms of the website.

How are we charged for the Downstream Licence?

Licence fees are paid by your MMO to Copyright Agency for the Downstream Licence.

The fees payable by you to your MMO for Copyright Agency’s Downstream Licence are set out in your agreement with your media monitoring provider for this service.

What does the Copyright Agency do with the licence fees?

The not-for-profit Copyright Agency pays back approximately $0.85c in every dollar collected to creators, authors, publishers and journalists. This allows them to continue to develop new high-quality content for organisations like yours to use in the future.

* Guide only. Please refer to licence agreements for full terms and conditions.

For more information about additional licences available from Copyright Agency contact licence.enquiries@copyright.com.au

Download PDF