Following a complaint made by Solent, the National Association of Press Agencies (NAPA) wrote to Jonathan Grun, editor of the Press Association, asking for an apology and "assurances that this was an aberration that will not be repeated".
Today Grun issued a statement to Journalism.co.uk claiming that the Press Association has "at all times acted in good faith in our reporting of this story".
Solent's complaint is in relation to the alleged republishing of parts of an interview with David Yeates, the father of murdered Joanna Yeates.
According to NAPA, Solent distributed the story on the 28 December to a number of selected publications, including the Southern Daily Echo.
But NAPA said a version of the story featuring the same quotes was then sent out by the Press Association. Solent claims that it asked the Press Association to recall the story as it was in breach of its copyright but was refused.
It is also alleged that a further breach of copyright occurred with another article relating to the same story.
Solent says its lawyers will write to the Press Association to request payment for the copy and damages.
Free daily newsletter
If you like our news and feature articles, you can sign up to receive our free daily (Mon-Fri) email newsletter (mobile friendly).
Related articles
- MoJoFest, Instagram Stories and paywalls: here is your weekly journalism news update
- Know your rights: what should journalists do when their copyright is infringed?
- The hidden threats in taming tech by law
- How newsrooms will be adopting artificial intelligence in 2018
- Press Association is using artificial intelligence to help local news organisations produce more data-driven stories