In pictures: PLS Open Meeting 2016

Thank you to all those who attended our Annual Open Meeting at Grays Inn. With a record turn out, sunny weather, insightful sessions and great networking, it was a very successful event.

Click for speaker presentations and photo gallery. Videos will follow soon, along with a write up of key themes and takeaway tips.

Have your say: CLA Collaboration Licensing in the UK Public Sector

The Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) is proposing to extend the right granted under its licences to UK public sector organisations to collaborate with other similarly licensed organisations. This proposal is relevant to publishers that receive secondary licensing income from local and central government and the NHS.

Effective rights management: Driving revenue and improving workflow

Effective rights management can help a business identify areas for product development and sales growth, and enhance a business when it comes to an exit strategy or M&A.

Get practical rights management tips in our recorded webinar and downloadable Q&A.

Policy update: The Marrakesh Treaty

The Marrakesh Treaty is an international copyright treaty focussing on copyright exceptions for the print disabled. The Treaty aims to increase access to books, magazines and other printed materials for the world’s population of persons who are blind, visually impaired and print disabled. Developments will affect all publishers.

Policy update: The Public Lending Right

The potential extension of the payment of the Public Lending Right (PLR) to authors whose ebooks are lent remotely by public libraries via a government amendment to the Digital Economy Bill. The bill has passed through the House of Commons and is now entering its committee stage in the House of Lords. The Public Lending Right primarily affects consumer publishers.

Policy update: Copyright Directive

The European Commission has published a proposed new copyright directive which includes, amongst other things, new exceptions to cover the use of digital content in the classroom, text and data mining and digital preservation by libraries. The proposed new copyright directive for the Digital Single Market is likely to affect all publishers.

Charles Clark Lecture 2017

Date: Wednesday 15th March 2017
Time: 4pm to 5pm, followed by drinks reception
Venue: London Olympia

The Charles Clark Lecture, which focuses on key developments in the world of copyright, has been running since 2008 and has grown to be London Book Fair’s largest lecture.

Why is everyone talking about Rights Management?

It is a topic at conferences, systems have been developed to support it and even new kinds of jobs are now dedicated to it. But why? Hasn’t the publishing industry always had to manage its rights? And aren’t rights fundamental to the very existence of publishers? By Clare Hodder.

Webinar: Introducing the Digital Content Store

When: Tuesday 28th February
Time: 11am-12pm

Join our webinar to explore a new workflow tool, developed to streamline the use of licensed coursepacks in UK universities, the Digital Content Store (DCS). If you are signed up with PLS, you may receive revenues from the Higher Education Licence - £5.5m was distributed in 2016. Listen in to find out how the DCS further improves the licence offer, benefitting both universities and rightsholders.

Enabling Author Choice: Transactional Permissions

Thousands of authors a year download free licenses for reuse of their own work in new publications, theses and dissertations, training and presentation materials. Now, two new transactional permissions services have been launched in UK and Australia, enabling authors to choose which service suits them best.