/ 24 March 2015

Sapa clarifies concerns over deletion of database stories

Sapa's homepage.
Sapa's homepage.

Sapa chairperson Minette Ferreira has clarified the organisation’s position on the deletion of stories from subscribers’ archives.

The organisation said that only subscribers who are carrying a database of Sapa stories are compelled to delete them. Subscribers who have published single stories, which now sit in archives, will not have to delete these stories.

“At its recent meeting, the Sapa board became aware of a letter that has been sent to you by the Editor of Sapa regarding the deletion from all subscriber media platforms, archives, and storage facilities the content that had been supplied to you in terms of your agreement with the company,” Ferreira said in a statement.

“After considering this letter, and although the action called for is in line with the agreements subscribers have with Sapa, the board feels that there is a need for it to clarify the situation regarding the Sapa content that has been supplied to you.  What the intention of the agreement is, is that if a subscriber is carrying a database of Sapa stories, i.e. a detailed and substantial archive of content substantially in the format that it was sent by Sapa to subscribers, then this archive needs to be deleted. 

“The intention is not that subscribers delete content received from Sapa which has been published in single stories within their print or other products,” the statement said. 

The deletion requirement applies only in cases where subscribers might have collected and assembled a stand-alone database of separate Sapa stories, which may include stories that might not even have been published by the subscriber.  

“While the board has agreed that you need not remove the content unless it is held within an separate archive or database, it is important to note that content which includes Sapa copyrighted content, and in particular that which includes copyrighted AP, AFP and dpa content supplied through Sapa’s news subscription service has been sold to the recent purchaser of the Sapa assets including the archives,” Ferreira said.