Irish Copyright Licensing Agency

What Irish Copyright Licensing Agency does

The Irish Copyright Licensing Agency CLG (ICLA) is a Dublin-based, not-for-profit collective management organisation founded in 1992 by the Irish Writers Union and the Irish Book Publishers' Association CLÉ. It operates as Ireland's only collective licensing body for educational reprography and broader text-and-image reproduction rights, registered under Section 149 of the Copyright & Related Rights Act, 2000, and certified by the Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment under Statutory Instruments No. 275–278 of 2020 for its educational licences. ICLA holds exclusive mandates from over 3,500 authors and 650 publishers, and operates reciprocal agreements with reproduction rights organisations (RROs) worldwide through its IFRRO membership, including CLA UK, Kopinor, CCC US, and ALCS.

ICLA's product portfolio consists of sector-specific blanket licences enabling organisations to legally copy, scan, and share published works. These span educational licences (Primary/Post-Primary Schools, Further Education, Higher Education, Language Schools, and Schools Limited Manufacture), business licences (General Commercial, Law Firms, Pharmaceutical Firms, Copyshop/Public Access), and specialised offerings such as the Out-of-commerce Works Licence for heritage digitisation and a Public Lending Right (PLR) facilitation service covering Irish, UK, Austrian, French, Lithuanian, and Dutch schemes. The underlying technology stack is the WISE (Web IFRRO Software Environment) platform, adopted in 2014, which handles licensing, data collection, and royalty distribution. Newer offerings such as the August 2025 "Copyright Classroom" e-learning resource for Transition Year students and a January 2026 generative-AI guidance document extend ICLA beyond pure licensing into copyright education.

ICLA generates revenue through annual subscription licences, with the Department of Education purchasing a central Educational Licence covering all primary and post-primary schools under the Free Education Scheme, while other organisations are licensed individually via direct sales. Approximately 5,000 licences are issued each year. As a company limited by guarantee, virtually all licence revenue is distributed to rightsholders — split 50/50 between authors and publishers with a 4% carve-out for visual creators distributed via IVARO — with only a small margin retained to fund five full-time staff and operations. Governance is shared equally between author-nominated and publisher-nominated board representatives, with an independent Chair (currently Ruth Gill, since 2024) and CEO Samantha Holman, who also serves as IFRRO President.

Name

Irish Copyright Licensing Agency

Legal name

Irish Copyright Licensing Agency CLG

Website

https://icla.ie

Company type

Private

Founded year

1992

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Irish Copyright Licensing Agency CLG is a Dublin-based not-for-profit collective management organisation that issues sector-specific blanket copyright licences (education, law, pharma, commercial, heritage) to Irish organisations and distributes the resulting royalties to its 3,500+ mandated authors and 650 publishers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Collective Copyright Licensing Services

NAICS

Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers (5131), Music Publishers (512230)

SIC

Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Royalty, Reporting & Revenue Share Administration (MPADALAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Royalty Accounting & Payment Services (Statements, Audits, Payee Management) (MPAIABAL), Micro-Licensing & Direct Licensing Platforms (UGC, SMB venues, online uses) (MPAIAKAJ)

Keywords

• Copyright licensing services
• Collective rights management
• Reprography licensing
• Educational copying licences
• Author royalty distribution

Headquarters

HQ city

Dún Laoghaire

HQ country

Ireland

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Educational Licences: Annual blanket licences for schools, further education colleges, higher education institutions, and language schools to copy and reuse content from published works. Revenue is distributed to rightsholders based on data collection exercises.
2. Business Licences: Annual blanket licences for general commercial organisations, law firms, and pharmaceutical companies to copy and share published content internally. Fee based on organisation type and size.
3. Copyshop/Public Access Licence: Licences for organisations providing public photocopying facilities, allowing limited paper copying of extracts from books, journals and periodicals within ICLA's repertoire.
4. Out-of-Commerce Works Licence: Collective licences for heritage organisations to digitise published works that are no longer commercially available, supporting preservation and public access.
5. International Receipts: ICLA receives royalties from international RROs for use of Irish works abroad and distributes these to Irish rightsholders.
6. Public Lending Right (PLR) Distribution: Facilitates PLR payments to Irish authors from Irish, UK, and other European PLR schemes (Austria, France, Lithuania, Netherlands).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

ICLA is a not-for-profit collective licensing body that issues annual blanket licences to educational institutions, commercial organisations, law firms, pharmaceutical companies, copyshops and other bodies so they can legally copy, scan and share content from published works. Licence revenue is collected and distributed to rightsholders (authors, publishers, visual creators) based on usage data, with ICLA representing more than 3,500 authors and 650 publishers under exclusive mandate.

Product overview

ICLA operates as a not-for-profit collective licensing body offering a portfolio of sector-specific licences enabling organisations to legally copy, scan, and share published works. The core offering consists of educational licences (Primary/Post-Primary Schools, Further Education, Higher Education, Language Schools) and business licences (General Commercial, Law Firms, Pharmaceutical Firms, Copyshop/Public Access). Additional offerings include the Out-of-commerce Works Licence for digitisation projects, the Schools Limited Manufacture Licence for music recordings, and the Public Lending Right scheme for author payments. ICLA represents over 3,500 authors and 650 publishers, distributing licence revenue to rightsholders while providing legal access to content through collective licensing. The organisation also publishes educational resources including guidance on generative AI tools and Copyright Classroom for students.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• €24M revenue secured annually for content owners
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles7 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Copyright Licensing Agency (UK)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1992Bilateral agreement signed in 1992 enabling mutual representation of Irish and UK works. Irish licensees gain access to UK repertoire and Irish rightsholders can be represented in the UK.
• Kopinor (Norway)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1992Bilateral agreement signed in 1992 for mutual representation of Norwegian and Irish works.
• International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerICLA is an active member of IFRRO, the main international network of collective management organisations for text and image. ICLA hosted IFRRO's annual general meeting in 2007 and mid-year meetings in 2013. CEO Samantha Holman elected President of IFRRO in 2025.
• Irish Writers UnioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounding partner of ICLA in 1992. Nominated author representatives to ICLA's Board. Represents Irish authors who mandate ICLA to collect royalties on their behalf.
• Writers Guild of IrelandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRepresents Irish script writers who mandate ICLA. Works with ICLA to represent Irish authors.
• Publishing IrelandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNominates publisher representatives to ICLA's Board. Represents Irish publishers who mandate ICLA.
• Irish Visual Artists Rights Organisation (IVARO)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerICLA reserves 4% of national licence fees for visual creators, distributed by IVARO. IVARO mandates ICLA for visual works published with text.
• Author's Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS, UK)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerReciprocal agreement enables Irish-resident authors to receive ALCS income through ICLA in euros without withholding tax.
• PLR UK / British LibrarycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerService agreement since 2004 for facilitating UK PLR payments to Irish-resident authors. Since 2012, Irish PLR payments to Irish residents facilitated through this agreement.
• CLA (UK)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUK partner RRO for representing Irish works in the UK and receiving payments for UK use of Irish publications.
• CCC (US)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerUS partner RRO for representing Irish works in the US market.
• PLR Ireland / Library CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIrish PLR scheme established in 2008, run by the Library Council from 2009 to 2012, with enhanced cooperation with PLR UK since 2012.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Copibec: Québec-based French-language RRO providing collective licensing for reprography and digital copying in education and business. Functional peer operating the same collective licensing model for a specific linguistic/regional market.
• Copydan: Danish umbrella organisation coordinating reprographic and other collective licensing of copyrighted works. Direct peer in the Nordic RRO network, comparable in scale and operating model to ICLA.
• Kopinor: Norwegian RRO representing authors and publishers for reprographic licensing, with bilateral agreement with ICLA since 1992. Direct peer performing the same collective licensing function in a small Nordic market.
• Access Copyright: Canadian collective rights organisation licensing reproduction of published works in education, business and government. Direct functional peer operating the same not-for-profit RRO model in a comparable mid-sized market.
• VG Wort: German collecting society managing reproduction rights and royalty distribution for authors and publishers, including educational and scientific copying. Operates the same CMO model as ICLA at much larger scale, and is a member of IFRRO alongside ICLA.
• Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA): UK-based Reproduction Rights Organisation (RRO) operating the same collective licensing model for educational, business and public sector copying of published works. ICLA and CLA have a bilateral reciprocal agreement dating to 1992, making CLA the closest functional and structural peer.
• ProLitteris: Swiss cooperative collecting society for visual arts and literary reproduction rights. Direct peer in the European RRO network with overlapping mandates for text and image rights and IFRRO membership.
• Copyright Clearance Center (CCC): US-based rights licensing and royalty distribution organisation serving corporate, academic and publisher customers. CCC is ICLA's US partner RRO under their reciprocal agreement and is the most developed large-market analog of ICLA's collective licensing and royalty distribution model.
• CEDRO: Spanish collective rights organisation for authors and editors, licensing reproduction of text and image content for educational and business use. IFRRO member performing the same collective reprography licensing function as ICLA in a larger European market.

Emerging players

• Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS): UK-based not-for-profit collective management organisation collecting secondary royalties (PLR, ALCS payments) for writers. While narrower in scope than ICLA (it does not issue reproduction licences), ALCS is a direct reciprocal partner and serves overlapping rightsholder constituencies, making it a closely adjacent peer.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/irishcopyright
• Facebookfacebook.com/IrishCopyrightLicensingAgency
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/irish-copyright-licensing-agency

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Irish Copyright Licensing Agency