LBF 2026: 'Rather Have a Bad License Than No License' — Publishers Urged to Enter AI Licensing Market

A panel at the London Book Fair titled 'Publishing Revenue Diversification Through Rights Licensing,' moderated by Roy Kaufman of the Copyright Clearance Center, urged publishers to actively enter the AI licensing market rather than waiting for litigation to resolve. The Publishers Association's 'Content Superpower' report found that the number of publishers active in the AI licensing market is set to double in 2026, with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) licensing now a meaningful and growing segment.