Copyright Policy

Last updated: 20 July 2026

This Copyright Policy explains who owns the content published by London Accident News, how that content may be used and how copyright owners can report material they believe has been used without permission.

London Accident News is operated by:

Website: londonaccidentnews.co.uk
Contact page: Contact London Accident News
Email: info@londonaccidentnews.co.uk

In this policy, “London Accident News”, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to Billion Media Limited.

Copyright Protection

Copyright is an automatic legal right that protects many types of original work. Registration is not generally required for copyright protection to arise in the United Kingdom.

Copyright law may protect:

• Written articles and reports;
• Photographs;
• Video footage;
• Audio recordings;
• Graphics and illustrations;
• Maps and diagrams;
• Website design elements;
• Databases and compilations;
• Software and source code;
• Original research;
• Interviews and transcripts; and
• Other original editorial material.

Official information about UK copyright protection is available from the UK Intellectual Property Office.

Ownership of London Accident News Content

Unless otherwise stated, content created for London Accident News is owned by, or licensed to, Billion Media Limited.

This may include:

• News articles;
• Live incident reports;
• Headlines and summaries;
• Original photographs and recordings;
• Graphics, illustrations and maps;
• Editorial databases;
• Page layouts and visual designs;
• Logos and branding;
• Newsletter content;
• Social media graphics;
• Original interviews; and
• Research and analysis.

Some material may be owned by an individual journalist, photographer, news agency, public authority, contributor, licensor or another third party.

Where third-party material is used, the relevant owner may retain copyright and impose separate licence conditions.

Copyright Notices and Credits

A copyright notice, photographer credit, agency credit or source attribution may appear beside particular material.

You must preserve any:

• Copyright notice;
• Author byline;
• Photographer credit;
• Agency credit;
• Watermark;
• Licence notice;
• Source attribution; or
• Rights-management information.

Removing or altering a credit does not remove the copyright owner’s legal rights.

Permitted Personal Use

You may access and read publicly available London Accident News content for lawful personal and non-commercial purposes.

You may also:

• Share a link to an article;
• Bookmark an article;
• Print a reasonable number of pages for personal reference;
• Share an article using a sharing function provided on the website;
• Quote a limited extract where permitted by law; and
• Refer to our reporting with clear and appropriate attribution.

This permission does not allow you to reproduce complete articles, photographs, videos or substantial parts of the website.

Linking to Our Content

You may link to publicly accessible London Accident News pages, provided that the link is lawful, accurate and not misleading.

You must not:

• Suggest that London Accident News endorses you without permission;
• Misrepresent the meaning of the linked report;
• Display our article in a frame that conceals its source;
• Use our logo as a linking button without permission;
• Link from content that is unlawful or seriously harmful;
• Use a misleading headline to describe our report; or
• Present our reporting as your own original work.

Quoting London Accident News

UK copyright law contains limited exceptions that may allow quotations for purposes such as criticism, review or reporting current events, provided the legal requirements are satisfied.

Where you quote London Accident News, you should:

• Use no more than is reasonably necessary;
• Accurately reproduce the quoted words;
• Provide sufficient acknowledgement;
• Name London Accident News as the source;
• Name the author where appropriate;
• Link to the original report where the quotation appears online;
• Avoid presenting the quotation out of context; and
• Ensure the use is fair and does not substitute for the original work.

Use of a quotation is not automatically lawful merely because the source has been credited.

Further official information is available in the Intellectual Property Office guidance on exceptions to copyright and fair dealing.

Reporting Current Events

Copyright law may permit fair dealing with certain types of work for the purpose of reporting current events, subject to legal conditions and sufficient acknowledgement.

This exception does not generally provide a blanket right to copy:

• Complete news articles;
• Entire databases;
• Photographs;
• Substantial video clips;
• Commercial graphics;
• Live feeds; or
• Other material beyond what is reasonably required.

Whether a use amounts to fair dealing depends on the particular circumstances. You should obtain legal advice if you are unsure whether a proposed use is permitted.

Uses That Require Permission

Unless a legal exception applies, you must obtain written permission before:

• Republishing a complete article;
• Reproducing a substantial part of an article;
• Using one of our photographs;
• Using our video or audio footage;
• Copying a graphic, map or illustration;
• Translating and republishing our content;
• Creating an audiobook, video or podcast version of an article;
• Including our content in a commercial report or publication;
• Syndicating our material;
• Using our content in advertising;
• Using our content to promote a product or service;
• Redistributing our newsletter;
• Building a database from our reports;
• Operating a commercial news feed using our content; or
• Licensing or selling our material to another party.

Commercial Use

London Accident News content must not be commercially exploited without prior written permission or an applicable licence.

Commercial use may include:

• Republishing content on an advertising-supported website;
• Using content behind a subscription or paywall;
• Using content in a commercial newsletter;
• Supplying content to paying customers;
• Using photographs or articles in marketing material;
• Creating a competing incident-reporting service;
• Using content to generate advertising or affiliate revenue;
• Reselling data extracted from the website; or
• Using content as part of a paid monitoring or intelligence service.

Automated Scraping and Data Extraction

You must not use automated systems to systematically reproduce or extract London Accident News content without permission.

Prohibited activities may include:

• Scraping complete articles;
• Extracting substantial article text;
• Downloading images or video at scale;
• Copying structured incident databases;
• Creating an unauthorised archive;
• Republishing our RSS or other feeds beyond their intended use;
• Circumventing technical restrictions;
• Ignoring rate limits;
• Removing copyright information;
• Using automated tools to create a competing service; or
• Placing an unreasonable technical burden on the website.

Legitimate search engines may crawl the website in accordance with our robots.txt file, metadata and other technical instructions.

Permission for search-engine indexing does not grant permission to commercially republish or redistribute our content.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Access to publicly available content does not automatically grant permission to reproduce, republish or commercially exploit it for artificial intelligence or machine-learning purposes.

Unless permitted by law or agreed in writing, you must not systematically use London Accident News content to:

• Train a commercial artificial intelligence model;
• Fine-tune a model;
• Create a commercial training dataset;
• Build a competing news or incident-reporting product;
• Generate substitute versions of our articles;
• Provide full-text answers that replace access to the original reports;
• Create synthetic news feeds based substantially on our content; or
• Remove attribution or rights-management information.

This section does not prevent lawful indexing, quotation, analysis or other use that is expressly permitted by applicable law.

Headlines and Article Summaries

A headline or brief factual reference may sometimes be used when linking to a London Accident News report.

You must not:

• Copy large collections of headlines to create a substitute service;
• Use our summaries as your own publication;
• Alter a headline in a way that misrepresents our reporting;
• Use headlines to suggest endorsement;
• Combine our headline with unrelated or misleading material; or
• Remove source attribution from an automatically generated feed.

Photographs

Photographs published on London Accident News may be owned by:

• Billion Media Limited;
• A staff photographer;
• A freelance photographer;
• A news agency;
• A reader or witness;
• A public authority;
• A commercial image library; or
• Another rights owner.

You must not download, screenshot, copy, crop, alter, publish or distribute a photograph unless:

• You have permission from the relevant rights owner;
• An applicable licence permits the use;
• A legal exception clearly applies; or
• The photograph is expressly labelled for reuse under stated conditions.

Credit alone does not create permission to use a photograph.

Video and Audio

Video and audio material may contain several separate rights, including copyright in the recording, music, performance, script or underlying footage.

You must not:

• Download or re-upload our recordings;
• Remove watermarks or credits;
• Extract substantial clips;
• Add our footage to a compilation without permission;
• Use our footage in advertising;
• Alter footage in a misleading way;
• Create a commercial derivative work; or
• License the footage to another person.

Embedding content through an official embed feature may be permitted where the feature and relevant platform terms allow it.

Maps, Graphics and Infographics

Maps, timelines, charts, visual summaries and infographics may contain original design, selection and arrangement protected by copyright.

Underlying public facts may not themselves be protected by copyright, but this does not generally permit copying the original visual design or presentation.

You may refer to factual information contained in a graphic, but you should independently verify the information and create your own original presentation.

Facts and Ideas

Copyright generally protects the expression of a work rather than an underlying fact, event or idea.

You may independently report publicly available facts about an incident. However, you must not copy the wording, structure, images, recordings or other protected expression used by London Accident News.

Rewriting an article with minor word substitutions may still infringe copyright where a substantial part of the original work has been reproduced.

Databases and Collections

The selection, arrangement and investment involved in creating a database or structured collection may receive legal protection.

You must not systematically extract or reuse substantial parts of:

• Our incident archive;
• Location-based report collections;
• Article metadata;
• Photograph libraries;
• Timelines;
• Structured event records;
• Contact databases; or
• Other compiled information.

Repeated extraction of smaller parts may also be prohibited where the cumulative effect is substantial or conflicts with the normal use of the database.

London Accident News Branding

The London Accident News name, logo, visual identity and associated branding must not be used without permission in a way that suggests:

• Ownership;
• Authorisation;
• Sponsorship;
• Partnership;
• Accreditation;
• Editorial approval; or
• Another commercial association.

You may use the words “London Accident News” in a factual source credit or ordinary link, provided the reference is accurate and not misleading.

Third-Party Content

Some content appearing on London Accident News is supplied by or licensed from third parties.

This may include:

• News agency material;
• Freelance photography;
• Witness footage;
• Social media embeds;
• Maps;
• Public authority material;
• Stock photographs;
• Video platform content; and
• Commercial data feeds.

We cannot grant permission to reuse material where the relevant rights belong to another person or organisation.

You must contact the identified rights owner or licensor directly.

Crown Copyright and Public-Sector Material

Material originating from a government department or public body may be subject to Crown copyright, Parliamentary copyright, the Open Government Licence or another specific licence.

Our use of public-sector material does not necessarily grant you permission to copy it from our website.

You should check the original public-sector source and applicable licence conditions before reuse. Information about Crown copyright and the Open Government Licence is available from The National Archives.

Reader and Witness Submissions

People who submit photographs, video, audio or written accounts generally retain ownership of copyright in their original material unless ownership is separately transferred in writing.

Submitting material may give Billion Media Limited a licence to review, edit, publish and distribute it under our Incident Submission Terms.

A contributor cannot grant us rights they do not own or control.

Moral Rights

UK copyright law recognises certain moral rights, which may include the right of an author or creator to be identified and the right to object to derogatory treatment of a work.

Whether a moral right applies can depend on factors such as:

• The type of work;
• How it was created;
• Whether the right was asserted;
• Whether the right was waived;
• The employment or contractual relationship; and
• Any statutory exception.

Official guidance about rights held by copyright owners is available from the Intellectual Property Office’s explanation of copyright and moral rights.

Requests to Reuse Our Content

To request permission or discuss a commercial licence, contact us through our contact page or email info@londonaccidentnews.co.uk.

Your request should include:

• Your name;
• Your organisation;
• Your contact details;
• The URL of the material;
• The article, image, video or other work you wish to use;
• The amount of material you wish to reproduce;
• Where it will appear;
• Whether the use is commercial;
• The expected audience or distribution;
• How long you wish to use it;
• The territories in which it will be used; and
• Any deadline applying to the request.

We are not required to grant permission and may impose conditions or a licensing fee.

Permission is not valid unless confirmed in writing by an authorised representative of Billion Media Limited or the relevant rights owner.

Reporting Copyright Infringement on London Accident News

If you believe that material published on London Accident News infringes your copyright, contact us promptly through our contact page or email info@londonaccidentnews.co.uk.

Use “Copyright Complaint” in the subject line where possible.

Information Required in a Copyright Complaint

Your copyright complaint should include:

• Your full name;
• Your email address and telephone number;
• The name of the copyright owner;
• Confirmation of whether you are the owner or an authorised representative;
• A clear description of the original protected work;
• Evidence of ownership or authority to act;
• The exact URL where the disputed material appears;
• Identification of the photograph, text, video or other material concerned;
• An explanation of why you believe the use is unauthorised;
• Details of any relevant licence or previous permission;
• The action you are requesting;
• A statement that the information provided is accurate to the best of your knowledge; and
• Any supporting files, screenshots or correspondence.

Insufficient or vague notices may delay our assessment.

Evidence of Copyright Ownership

Evidence may include:

• The original high-resolution file;
• File metadata;
• Earlier publication records;
• A signed assignment;
• A written licence;
• A contract with the creator;
• Agency records;
• Invoices;
• Contact sheets or original recordings;
• Registration records from a country where registration is available; or
• Another reliable record showing ownership or authority.

The fact that material appears on your website or social media account may not, by itself, establish that you own the copyright.

How We Handle Copyright Complaints

When we receive a sufficiently detailed complaint, we may:

• Acknowledge receipt;
• Review the disputed material;
• Check our source and licence records;
• Contact the journalist, contributor, photographer or supplier;
• Request further evidence from the complainant;
• Temporarily restrict the material;
• Replace or remove the material;
• Add or correct attribution;
• Obtain or confirm a licence;
• Reject an unsupported complaint;
• Seek legal advice; or
• Take another proportionate action.

We aim to acknowledge a sufficiently detailed copyright complaint within five working days.

The time needed to reach a decision will depend on the complexity of the ownership, licensing and legal issues.

Temporary Removal

We may temporarily remove or restrict disputed material while investigating a credible copyright complaint.

Temporary removal does not mean that:

• The complaint has been upheld;
• We accept liability;
• The complainant owns the material;
• No licence exists; or
• The material will be permanently removed.

Counter-Information From a Contributor

Where disputed material was supplied by a contributor, photographer, agency or other third party, we may ask that party to provide:

• Evidence of ownership;
• A licence;
• Proof of permission;
• The original file;
• Details of the source;
• An explanation of any copyright exception relied upon; or
• Other information relevant to the dispute.

We may share the substance of a complaint with the supplier where necessary to investigate it fairly.

False or Misleading Copyright Complaints

You must not knowingly submit a false, fraudulent or materially misleading copyright complaint.

Examples include:

• Claiming ownership of material you did not create or acquire;
• Concealing an existing licence;
• Submitting altered ownership records;
• Impersonating a rights owner;
• Using a copyright complaint to suppress lawful criticism or reporting;
• Claiming rights over facts or ideas alone; or
• Misrepresenting the extent of your rights.

We may reject abusive complaints, end correspondence or seek recovery of loss caused by a deliberately fraudulent claim where legally appropriate.

If Our Content Is Used Without Permission

Where we believe London Accident News content has been used without permission, we may:

• Contact the person or organisation responsible;
• Request attribution;
• Request removal;
• Request payment of a reasonable licence fee;
• Issue a formal infringement notice;
• Contact a hosting provider, platform or search engine;
• Seek disclosure of relevant information;
• Take legal advice;
• Bring civil proceedings; or
• Report suspected criminal infringement where appropriate.

Unauthorised use of the whole or a substantial part of a protected work may amount to copyright infringement where no licence or legal exception applies.

Official information about enforcing copyright is available from the Intellectual Property Office’s copyright enforcement guidance.

Corrections and Copyright Removal

Removing copyright material does not necessarily require removal of the whole article.

Depending on the circumstances, we may:

• Replace a photograph;
• Remove a video;
• Delete a disputed quotation;
• Add or correct a credit;
• Rewrite a section;
• Obtain a retrospective licence;
• Remove the complete page; or
• Take no action where the use is authorised or legally permitted.

No Transfer of Rights

Accessing London Accident News does not transfer any copyright, database right, trademark or other intellectual property right to you.

No rights are granted except those expressly stated in this policy, an applicable licence or the law.

Changes to This Copyright Policy

We may update this Copyright Policy to reflect changes in:

• Copyright law;
• Official guidance;
• Our publishing practices;
• The formats in which we distribute content;
• Our licensing arrangements;
• Artificial intelligence and automated-use practices; or
• Our complaints procedures.

The latest version will be published on this page with the revision date shown at the top.

Governing Law and Jurisdiction

This Copyright Policy and any dispute relating to it are governed by the laws of England and Wales.

Subject to any mandatory rights available to consumers, the courts of England and Wales will have jurisdiction over disputes relating to the use of London Accident News content.

Contact London Accident News

To request permission, discuss licensing or report suspected infringement, use our contact page.

You may also email info@londonaccidentnews.co.uk or write to: