Fourth firm pays damages for NBR copyright breaches

A fourth company has agreed to pay damages to the National Business Review after admitting it has been breaching the publication’s copyright since 2022.

NBR’s terms and conditions specify that a subscription cannot be shared with others and to do so is a breach of copyright.

In October, NBR secured settlements from three leading businesses after the online publication earlier this year began investigating several large businesses which appeared to be breaching its copyright and subscription terms and conditions by sharing small numbers of subscriptions widely among their staff.

The exact terms of those settlements, including the names of the firms, is confidential, but each firm paid legal costs and agreed to buy the appropriate number of subscriptions.

NBR also disabled the ability for subscribers to copy, print or save articles to PDF – another practice prevalent at many New Zealand businesses to get around media paywalls.

Scott said at the time NBR had developed a sophisticated system to flag those who were breaching its terms and copyright conditions and that the publication would give those firms already flagged by the system until the end of November to put their houses in order.

That system identified the latest investment firm – which NBR has agreed not to name as part of the settlement – as having shared one NBR subscription among multiple staff on dozens of occasions since 2022.

This week, the company admitted to the breach and has paid damages of $12,000, plus legal fees and GST, to NBR. The firm has also taken the appropriate number of subscriptions to ensure no further breaches occur.

The admission comes after the Inland Revenue Department earlier this month admitted it shared NBR articles with hundreds of staff in breach of the publication’s copyright, a move which caused a loss of at least $36,000 to NBR.

Talks over an appropriate damages payment ended after the tax department refused to budge on a settlement offer much lower than the subscription cost it should have paid to fairly share NBR articles with 600 staff, however. NBR publisher and co-owner Todd Scott banned the tax department from taking future subscriptions to the publication, and plans next year to lodge legal action with the District Court to recoup damages. 

Further action against others who have breached copyright will commence in early 2026, Scott said.

“When we first took action against three large firms for sharing small numbers of subscriptions widely among their staff, we warned others had until the end of November to purchase the appropriate number of subscriptions for their usage.

“With the passing of that deadline NBR will take action against those who continue to steal our content. Following a couple of years in which several high-profile media businesses have folded in this country, New Zealand business and Government departments need to ensure they are backing the industry appropriately.”