The tools provided by iCopyright, whose content tracking service is already used by the Associated Press, will help the paper to protect its copyright online and set up licensing arrangements with other sites.
On its first day of use, yesterday, 4,000 instant licenses and ad-supported permissions for using the Independent's material were issued by the new service, a press release from iCopyright said.
"We know that our editorial content is highly valued by our readers worldwide, and we encourage them to share and reuse our content with attribution and in accordance with copyright law. iCopyright will make it much easier for our content to reach a far-flung audience without losing its identity and compromising our rights," said Bill Swanson, managing director of independent.co.uk, in the release.
The deal, which was brokered through The Reprint & Licensing Centre, is the first use of iCopyright's technology by a UK publisher.
Last month Journalism.co.uk spoke to iCopyright founder and CEO, Mike O'Donnell, about the launch of a new range of services for online publishers called Discovery:
