Savills pays copyright bill for PR image after Press Gazette coverage

Hyperlocal news website was facing £460 bill from rights holder of PR image.

A Savills estate agent, illustrating a story about a £460 sum demanded from hyperlocal news site Marlborough News by photo library Alamy. Marlborough News say the image they are being billed over was provided with the assurance it was rights-free by Savills in 2016 and that the publicly-traded estate agent refuses to pay the bill. — A Savills estate agent branch in Ealing Broadway, west London. Picture: WIlliam Barton/Shutterstock

Update: 28/6/2024:

Update, Thursday 27 June: Property company Savills has paid a copyright bill issued by Alamy to hyperlocal news site Marlborough News after providing it with a PR image they did not own the rights for.

Neil Goodwin told Press Gazette that Savills “realised that an error had been made which they sought to resolve immediately it was brought to their attention by Press Gazette”.

Bron Maher

@bron_maher

Bron Maher is Press Gazette's senior reporter, covering US and UK media. He joined Press Gazette in November 2021 from Newsguard, a US start-up that reviews how far news sites adhere to journalistic standards.