Publishing 13 - Commercial Copyright Royalties publishing rates for flat maps - without advertising

Copyright Royalty Rates

You need a Publishing Permit to publish Land & Property Services (LPS)/ Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland® (OSNI®) branded Intellectual Property (IP). See Publishing 1 Application Form for more information.

• The rates shown below apply:
• When LPS/ OSNI branded IP is used in Flat or Folded Maps etc. where the publication is clearly primarily a map; and
• In all cases regardless of whether the publication is sold at a price or is free.

Categories of copying

To qualify for our commercial rates your publication must not be supported by advertising and must fall into the print run category shown below. 
LPS will require a draft of your proposed cartographical style. We will require verification of the print run number from your printer before we apply the commercial rates.
The charge categories are based on print runs.
The table below shows the Copyright Royalty rates, in pence per square centimetre, for each map that you publish. 

The rates do not include VAT.

Print Run	Pence per Square Centimetre
2001-4000 Atlases	0.0083 of a penny
4001 + Atlases	0.0057 of a penny

Flat maps of all of Northern Ireland will be assessed using the actual land area.

To find out the Copyright charge measure the area of your finished map size for each map in sq centimetres and, using the correct category, multiply the charge shown by the area and the number of copies made.

Example

You wish to publish an A2 size (2,494.8 sq cm) Flat Map with a print run of 4,500 copies:

2494.8 sq cm x 0.0057 = 14.22 pence per copy x 4500 = 63992 pence, divided by 100 to convert into pounds = £639.92 + VAT

• LPS will not charge you for maps derived and redrawn at a scale of 1:1,000,000 or smaller but the copyright acknowledgement must be shown.
• Areas of sea not mapped by LPS will be excluded when calculating the area to be charged for the purpose of determining the Royalties due.
• Rates apply to copies printed from 1st April 2026
• These rates will be revised from 1st April 2027. Copies printed after this date may attract different Royalty charges.
• VAT is charged at the rate prevailing on the date of the invoice.
• For publications which are supported by advertising, the maximum discount will be 20% off the Standard Rates.

Other options available

• See Publishing 11 for standard publishing rates
• See Publishing 12 for atlases with a print run greater than 2000 copies - with no advertising included.
• See Publishing 14 for Royalty rates for Media using crown LPS/ OSNI Intellectual Property (IP)

Need help?

If you need of assistance e-mail: copyright@finance-ni.gov.uk