For several weeks Bulls News has been unable to publish action photographs from Hereford United matches.
The website was advised by the football authorities that by publishing photos the website was breaking copyright rules.
Telephone conversations with officials from DataCo, the organisation set up to 'police' the press, suggested an approach to Hereford United for a 'single club end user agreement' which if granted would allow action photographs to be published.
An e-mail and letter were sent to the club in late February and a follow-up e-mail last week. On Thursday we received a reply in which the club said it would not let us have the agreement we had asked for. We have replied and asked for a meeting with the club.
The situation regarding websites and what they can and can not publish is complicated. Take the fixture list for example.
Hereford United can grant a nominated website/fanzine the right to print a fixture list for the club for £1. Without that permission care has to be taken not to list fixtures in any form on a website. It is alright to mention an upcoming fixture or two in an article but any more than that could be said to be a breach of copyright. For a website such as Bulls News to print the whole of a seasons fixtures for Hereford United would cost £266. Most sites get around this by linking to a site that can show the fixtures such as the BBC.
The issue about photographs is also complicated. Anyone can take photos or videos of a match on a simple mobile phone camera and with the continued improvement in these phones the results can be good enough to be published on You Tube or a similar website. To stop supporters doing this would not be practical but in theory this is a breech of the regulations. Instead the authorities target websites such as Bulls News who can be traced and can be shut down.
Bulls News, like many other fans sites, is run by a handful of supporters who freely give their time to run a website which hopefully is of some interest to other supporters. There is a need for independent websites to balance the official sites. Often independent websites can report on issues that official sites tend to avoid. We don't see ourselves as competition to the Official Site - more as an alternative source for news about Hereford United.
Hereford United have received sponsorship money for players from Bulls News and its predecessor HU-FC.co.uk for the last five seasons. We have also purchased a set of practice goalposts for the club and were one of the three organisations involved with the Onwards and Upwards book which has mainly been sold through the club shop.
Bulls News has offered to increase the amount of sponsorship it pays to the club in return for the licence required.
Text at top (next game etc)
Next Game: Away At Curzon Ashton On Saturday 19th October at 3.00pm