vincevincevince - 2:40 pm on Dec 2, 2009 (gmt 0)

As I understand it the first click free system is to allow content from sources which charge for access to be shown without a "Payment required" or similar notice. The first click means the click from Google to the site; the second click (from the landing article to another) can prompt for payment.

The clarification here relates to stopping people just copying the headline they want to see back into google, then seeing that article free as well. So; this means they can only pull up 5 articles under the first-click-free system, after which the publisher can ask them to pay - without violating the first-click-free agreement.