STJ decides that paid “clipping” of news stories can infringe the copyright of press outlets

STJ decides that paid “clipping” of news stories can infringe the copyright of press outlets

In a recent decision, the 3rd Panel of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) held, by a majority, that the reproduction for commercial purposes of columns and news stories, when unauthorized, can infringe the copyright of the newspapers and magazines that produced them. In the case, the STJ upheld a lawsuit filed by the newspaper Folha de São Paulo against a company for gathering and reproducing its journalistic works commercially, a practice known as “clipping”.

News clipping is a technique for monitoring and collecting information from the media, with the aim of helping companies obtain market information. The present dispute concerned a claim for compensation for the profits generated from the sale of such services, since for the Folha group there was copyright infringement and parasitic competition in the conduct.

At the lower court, the São Paulo Court of Justice ruled that there could be no question of infringement, since the free use of news published in the daily or periodical press was guaranteed by article 46, items I, letter “a” and VIII of Law 9610/1998, the Copyright Law (LDA) and by art. 10.1 of the Berne Union Convention (CUB).

In the Special Appeal, the rapporteur of the appeal and author of the winning vote, Justice Nancy Andrighi, made an analysis based on the “Three Steps Test” (a test for the concrete application of Copyright adopted by the CUB) and understood that the sale of news clippings conflicted with the normal commercial exploitation of the journalistic company’s works and that this would harm its economic interests.

The magistrate argued that the clipping could not fall under Article 46, I, “a”, and VIII of the LDA, as it is a type of media monitoring, directed at the client’s specifications, and the news is reproduced and treated as an input for commercialized products, not a mere quotation of journalistic content.

It was also held that the newspaper company is entitled to compensation for the improper use of the works it owns, by way of material damages, in an amount to be determined in settlement.

The decision can be accessed via the link: REsp 2.008.122

Note: For quick release and cost control, this English version is provided by automated translation without human review.