A lively and very well attended PDLN seminar was held on 21st November on the topic of text and data mining, and the implications of Article 4 in the DSM Copyright Directive. Conversation ranged widely over many related topics, reflecting member interest in how implementation will change licensing models.

PDLN board members Javier Diaz Olarte and Thomas Veljemand have been elected to the boards of IFRRO and FIBEP respectively. Sandra Chastanet was re-elected to the IFRRO board. Congratulations to all.

Cision (which ownes Gorkana, Prime, PR Newswire and other assets) has been sold by its primary investor GTCR to another US VC, Platinum. The deal values Cision at USD2.7b, more that the USD2.48 paid by GTCR.

German CMO VG Media, best known for broadcast licensing and its work for German publishers on leading the attempt to license Google in Germany, has joined PDLN. The new 2019 EU DSM legislation creates new opportunities for publishers,

In the past few days, in response to the new DSM legislation, Google has presented publishers across Europe with an ultimatum; “accept that we can display your content including text snippets free of charge or we will reduce your coverage to a bare link”.

Infomedia is taking over the Norwegian, Swedish and Estonian media monitoring companies M-Brain AS, M-Brain AB and M-Brain OÜ from the Finnish company M-Brain OY. The acquisition includes 100 employees along with company clients, digital platforms and solutions.

License League has ceased operations, citing limited publisher support. The US privately owned content licensing business was run by former Burrelles Luce operations head Dan Schiable.

The Portuguese MMO organizations CISION, MANCHETE and CLIPPING CONSULTORES have been found guilty of using content without authorization from the rights holders represented by VISAPRESS. In its ruling on Sept 4th the Portuguese intellectual property court finally ended a 6 years litigation process.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has recommended sweeping changes to Australian law to address the power imbalance between digital platforms and media companies. These recommendations are contained in its final Digital Platforms Inquiry report, released on 26 July.