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The Inland Revenue Department has admitted it shared National Business Review 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.
But talks over an appropriate damages payment have 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. NBR publisher and co-owner Todd Scott has banned the tax department from taking future subscriptions to the publication.
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 NBR's 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.
Last month, NBR announced it was taking legal advice in relation to actions taken by IRD.
The tax department previously had a group subscription of 220 users until March, 2024, when they cancelled the group subscription and took out a single subscription for IRD media principal Rowan McArthur.
Now, NBR can reveal the IRD has admitted that between March 28, 2024 and November 17, 2025, it shared 22 different NBR articles with staff members. Those articles were distributed as stand-alone Microsoft Word documents to Inland Revenue staff, with seven of the articles in question shared with 600 staff.
A group subscription to NBR covering 600 staff for four months would ordinarily have cost IRD about $36,000 plus GST.
The IRD has acknowledged it should not have shared the articles and apologised for doing so. IRD offered to settle the matter at a much lower cost, arguing not all 600 staff had accessed those shared articles.
NBR, however, argued copyright remedies did not turn on actual use by the end user and that damages should be paid on a user principle basis, which essentially determines the amount the infringer would have had to pay for a licence if they had sought permission in advance.
On Wednesday, however, NBR’s settlement offer to IRD expired, and will not be offered again.
Scott has also banned IRD from taking future subscriptions to NBR and cancelled the one sub it had.
“It is shocking that the government department tasked with making sure New Zealand businesses and individuals pay their fair share has admitted they were not properly paying for their use of a privately-owned business’s product,” Scott said. “It is, however, worse that they have then refused to pay the appropriate damages in recognition of the seriousness of the breach.
“The irony of the IRD’s refusal to pay for its breach will not be lost on the thousands of New Zealand businesses who have been struggling to make ends meet for several years.
“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.”
