Building a Working Framework for Copyright, Licensing, and AI: How FIBEP and Its Peers Are Developing Solutions Together

The challenge facing media monitoring, copyright management, and publishing is not one any single organisation can solve alone. AI has changed how content is ingested, summarised, and redistributed; copyright law was not written for it; and the commercial relationships between media monitoring organisations (MMOs), copyright management organisations (CMOs), publishers, and end clients are being renegotiated in real time across dozens of jurisdictions.

What is encouraging, and what I want to share publicly, is that a coalition of stakeholders is now actively building the shared infrastructure to navigate this together.

What Is the Media Rights Trust Initiative?

The Media Rights Trust Initiative (MRTI) is a multi-stakeholder programme convened under FIBEP, the international federation of media monitoring associations. Its purpose is to develop shared principles, working definitions, and practical reference materials for how MMOs, CMOs, publishers, and end clients work together in the AI era. The MRTI does not produce binding documents or legal commitments. It produces shared positions and joint statements that members and partners can use in their own commercial, regulatory, and educational work.

The model is deliberate: a joint-identity framework with equal ownership across FIBEP, AMEC, CMOs, and customer representation. No single voice dominates, and no participant takes on legal exposure. The authority of the work comes from the breadth of its endorsement, not from regulatory power.

This is the structure that makes participation possible, and it is producing real outputs.

Why a Coalition Approach Makes Sense

Three forces make a coalition the most workable response:

Copyright is territorial; commerce is not. An MMO based in one country routinely sells to a client whose users sit in five countries and whose source content originates from two hundred. National copyright law, much of it tracing back to the 1920s Berne Convention, was not designed for this. Any solution that operates only inside one jurisdiction is incomplete by design.

AI is moving faster than legislation. Approximately 115 news-related AI lawsuits, legislative actions, and jurisdictional briefs have been filed over the last five years, with the pace accelerating year on year. The next twelve to eighteen months will likely set the pattern for AI licensing for the decade. Waiting for legal clarity before agreeing on industry principles means letting the principles be written by litigation.

No single stakeholder has the full picture. Publishers know their content and audience. CMOs know the licensing architecture. MMOs know how content actually flows to end clients. End clients know what they need AI to do for them. A solution that excludes any one of these voices fails for the others.

The Five Pillars of Work Now Underway

The MRTI's work is organised into five pillars, each with named deliverables and stakeholder ownership.

Pillar 1. Deliverables for 2026. A focused output programme: one joint white paper, three to four webinars across FIBEP, AMEC, and PDLN audiences, and four to five conference presentations. The priority is publisher meetings supported by a clear common message: a one-page articulation of what MMOs do, why publishers benefit from licensing rather than litigating, and where the shared interest lies.

Pillar 2. Clarity (Glossary and Taxonomy). A shared vocabulary across stakeholders, built on existing AMEC × PDLN × FIBEP workshop output rather than starting fresh. Priority terms include neighbouring rights, scraping versus licensed ingestion, training versus fine-tuning, the discriminative-versus-generative AI distinction, and a working quantitative definition of summarization. Without shared language, every negotiation starts from zero.

Pillar 3. Trust, Governance, and Framework. The structural questions: how MMOs operate consistently across jurisdictions, how transparency in reporting becomes the corrective mechanism to fragmentation, and how FIBEP, AMEC, and PDLN coordinate without duplication. The "reluctant collecting society" reality is well understood - publishers stay with collective frameworks when those frameworks deliver value, and a central aim of the coalition's work is to help frameworks deliver that value.

Pillar 4. Practical Outputs. A reference document that helps MMOs read, evaluate, and negotiate CMO and publisher licences, with particular focus on AI provisions. The framing has shifted intentionally: rather than presenting a template to publishers, the coalition is building shared knowledge so that licensing conversations begin from a common baseline - to the benefit of all parties. AI licensing is the priority focus, ahead of harmonising legacy clip-monitoring terms.

Pillar 5. Fairness. Three principles as the foundation for any pricing or licensing posture: fair, reasonable, and sustainable. Fairness operates on three axes:

• Between MMOs and publishers; 

• Between MMOs themselves;

• Between MMOs and their clients. Inconsistent industry messaging to clients has been identified as a credibility risk, and addressing it is central to the pillar's work.

Partners Already at the Table

The coalition has substance because its members have substance. AMEC contributes the measurement-evaluation lens that gives any principles framework methodological credibility, building from the same Barcelona Principles tradition that already governs how the industry measures communication. PDLN brings the publisher network and the perspective on collective licensing that has shaped European copyright practice for decades. The CLA and NLA in the United Kingdom are actively building the AI licensing architecture, including discriminative-versus-generative AI distinctions, summarization permitted only when sent alongside the original article, and emerging "transparency-based" pricing models, and are aligning their programmes with coalition discussions.

Several major UK publishers, having signed early direct AI deals, are now seeking more sustainable collective frameworks. Publisher engagement on content-use transparency is at an all-time high. The opportunity to build a model that works for all sides exists right now in a way it did not eighteen months ago.

What the Coalition Has Produced and What's Under Discussion

Concrete examples of completed outputs and active workstreams:

• The AMEC × PDLN × FIBEP AI workshop output, which documents shared wording, a working glossary, and the points of agreement and disagreement on AI usage in the monitoring industry.

• The 2025 "CMOs vs. Direct Contracts" workshop output, which examines how MMO–publisher relationships function under different licensing structures, available through the FIBEP copyright data room.

• The FIBEP Copyright Booklet, a member-facing resource connecting legal thinking on AI, fair use, social network dominance, and alternative redistribution models — including the question of whether pay-per-click could replace theoretical redistribution — to practical industry use.

• An active glossary and taxonomy workstream under Pillar 2, building shared definitions for terms including neighbouring rights, scraping versus licensed ingestion, training versus fine-tuning, and the discriminative-versus-generative AI distinction.

• A licence-reading reference document in development under Pillar 4, designed to help MMOs and their counterparts approach CMO and publisher AI licensing terms from a common analytical baseline.

• A forthcoming joint statement under discussion, modelled on the Barcelona Principles, with the ambition of being co-signed by FIBEP, AMEC, PDLN, and publisher representation.

Together these represent the working output of a coalition that has moved past framing the problem and is now building tools to address it.

Recent Momentum

The Copyright Talks in Oslo this March were a significant marker of progress. Members and guests, including CMO representatives joining the discussions, sharpened the deliverables, timelines, and responsibilities for each of the five pillars. As Christophe Dickes, FIBEP Vice President of Copyright, said: 

"This year's inclusion of Copyright Management Organizations, along with additional legal presentations on Day Two, made for a rich and valuable two-day event." 

The session also added important legal and strategic depth on the integration of AI tools, what an industry AI licence could look like, the implications of US fair use for AI royalty obligations, the impact of dominant social network positions in the MMO industry, and alternatives to theoretical redistribution.

But the work did not begin in Oslo, and it does not end there. Oslo confirmed that the coalition is moving from discussion to delivery — and that members and partners are willing to do the work.

How to Engage

The coalition is actively recruiting participation in three areas:

1. FIBEP members with interest in any of the five pillars are invited to join working sessions through the FIBEP Secretariat.

2. Publishers, CMOs, and AMEC members who want to contribute to the joint-identity model and the principles work under discussion are encouraged to contact the FIBEP Vice President of Copyright.

3. End-client organisations - corporate communications, PR, and intelligence buyers of MMO services, are explicitly being recruited as a fifth stakeholder voice. Bringing the customer perspective into the work is a stated priority for 2026.

If you work in media monitoring, media intelligence, copyright management, publishing, or as a buyer of these services, this is the moment when industry agreements for the AI era are being shaped. There is room at the table.

Learn more about MRTI here.

Todd Murphy is President of FIBEP, the International Federation of Media Monitoring Organisations, and chairs the Media Rights Trust Initiative. To engage with the MRTI, contact the FIBEP Secretariat.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Media Rights Trust Initiative (MRTI)?

The Media Rights Trust Initiative (MRTI) is a multi-stakeholder programme convened under FIBEP, the international federation of media monitoring associations. It develops shared principles, working definitions, and practical reference materials for how media monitoring organisations (MMOs), copyright management organisations (CMOs), publishers, and end clients work together in the AI era. It produces shared positions and joint statements rather than binding legal documents.

Who is involved in the MRTI coalition?

The MRTI operates as a joint-identity framework with equal ownership across FIBEP, AMEC, CMOs, and customer representation. Key partners include PDLN (which brings publisher network expertise), the CLA and NLA in the United Kingdom (who are actively building AI licensing architecture), and several major UK publishers. End-client organisations, such as corporate communications and PR buyers, are also being actively recruited as a fifth stakeholder voice in 2026.

Why is a coalition approach needed to address AI and copyright in media monitoring?

Three factors make a coalition the most practical response: copyright law is territorial while media commerce is global; AI is evolving faster than legislation (with approximately 115 news-related AI lawsuits and actions filed in five years); and no single stakeholder, publisher, CMO, MMO, or client, has the full picture on their own. A solution that excludes any one of these voices fails for the others.

What are the five pillars of the MRTI's work?

The MRTI's work is organised into five pillars: 

(1) Deliverables for 2026, including a joint white paper, webinars, and conference presentations; 

(2) Clarity, building a shared glossary and taxonomy of key terms such as neighbouring rights, scraping vs. licensed ingestion, and training vs. fine-tuning; 

(3) Trust, Governance, and Framework, addressing how MMOs operate consistently across jurisdictions; 

(4) Practical Outputs, including a reference document to help MMOs navigate AI licensing terms; and 

(5) Fairness, grounding all pricing and licensing in principles that are fair, reasonable, and sustainable across MMOs, publishers, and clients.

What has the MRTI produced so far?

Completed and active outputs include: the AMEC × PDLN × FIBEP AI workshop output with a working glossary; the 2025 "CMOs vs. Direct Contracts" workshop output; the FIBEP Copyright Booklet covering AI, fair use, and redistribution models; an active glossary and taxonomy workstream; a licence-reading reference document in development; and a forthcoming joint statement modelled on the Barcelona Principles, intended to be co-signed by FIBEP, AMEC, PDLN, and publisher representatives.

How can organisations get involved with the MRTI?

Participation is open in three ways: FIBEP members can join working sessions on any of the five pillars through the FIBEP Secretariat; publishers, CMOs, and AMEC members can contact the FIBEP Vice President of Copyright to contribute to the joint principles work; and end-client organisations, including corporate communications, PR, and media intelligence buyers, are explicitly being recruited as a fifth stakeholder voice and are encouraged to engage directly.

What distinguishes the MRTI's approach to AI licensing from litigation-based solutions?

Rather than waiting for legal clarity through litigation — which risks letting industry principles be defined by court outcomes — the MRTI is building agreed industry standards proactively. The next twelve to eighteen months are seen as a critical window for shaping AI licensing patterns for the coming decade. The coalition's approach prioritises shared language, transparency, and collective frameworks that deliver value to all sides, making licensing preferable to litigation for publishers, MMOs, and CMOs alike.

Where can I follow the MRTI's work and learn about upcoming events?

The MRTI presents its work across several industry events and platforms. The FIBEP Copyright Talks, most recently held in Oslo in March 2026, is a key annual gathering where coalition members, CMO representatives, and legal experts convene to sharpen deliverables and discuss developments in AI licensing and copyright. Further opportunities to engage include webinars and conference presentations organised jointly across FIBEP, AMEC, and PDLN audiences, with three to four scheduled for 2026. To stay informed, follow updates through the FIBEP Secretariat, the AMEC and PDLN networks, and the FIBEP copyright data room where workshop outputs are made available to members.