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Reflecting on 2025

As 2025 draws to a close, we reflect on the major milestones for PLS and the wider publishing industry over the last year.

This year saw the launch of two pioneering CLA licensing solutions: the Text and Data Mining (TDM) licence in January, and the Workplace Generative AI licensing extension in April. These licensing developments will help to ensure that rightsholders are fairly remunerated when their content is used by technology companies, and reflect PLS and our members’ commitment to safeguarding the UK’s ‘gold standard’ copyright framework. 

PLS proudly participated in the Make it Fair campaign in February, an initiative aimed at raising awareness among the British public about the importance of fair credit and remuneration for rightsholders in the era of generative AI.  

In March, we rebranded our collective licensing service to PLS Collect, to better integrate it into our family of services. This refresh reinforces our commitment to supporting publishers both through our core collective licensing service and the other services that PLS proudly provides, including the award-winning PLSclear. 

Monisha Shah began her term as PLS Chair on 1 June, succeeding the outgoing Rosie Glazebrook. Monisha’s extensive experience in the creative industries, tech, and legal sectors proves invaluable as we navigate the challenges posed by our ever-evolving technological landscape. 

We held the largest PLS Conference yet in July, hosting 220 delegates from across the publishing industry. A diverse array of expert panellists and speakers offered practical insight into the latest developments in rights, licensing, AI, and copyright. Karen Rønde, CEO of the DPCMO, closed the conference with an inspirational keynote on the power of collective action in protecting rightsholders from AI companies exploiting their content. To read our takeaways from the 2025 PLS Conference, click here. 

 

 

2026 promises to be another exciting year, with there being plans to update the existing CLA MMO licence and introduce a trailblazing licensing scheme for the use of text in generative AI, such as in the training and fine-tuning of an AI language model or use in retrieval-augmented generation (RAG). The PLS Conference will also be returning on Thursday 2nd July 2026 at 1 Wimpole Street, London. We look forward to continuing to work with you in 2026, which promises another exciting year in our rapidly evolving industry!