In the news

["Joseph J. Esposito" <espositoj@gmail.com>]

[MOD NOTE: See full complaint at: 
http://www.publishers.org/main/PressCenter/documents/GSUlawsuitcomplaint.pdf]

> From "Inside Higher Ed""
Three publishers sued Georgia State University Tuesday, charging 
that digitally distributed course materials were violating their 
copyrights, The New York Times reported. The case could be the 
online equivalent of litigation waged by publishers years ago 
against printed coursepacks - although those suits were generally 
filed against copy shops. Georgia State told the Times that it 
hadn't seen the suit and couldn't comment, but the publishers' 
lawyer told the newspaper that the university had asserted its 
rights to use the material. The lawyer said that several other 
universities, contacted with similar complaints, had agreed to 
change policies. Cambridge University Press, Oxford University 
Press, and Sage Publications filed the suit.

***

JE:  Note that two of the plaintiffs are not-for-profit 
university presses. This is in part a case about the "free rider" 
issue, where one not-for-profit objects to another 
not-for-profit's not carrying its own weight.  I anticipate we 
will see an increasing amount of activity in this area, as the 
larger research universities (the primary creators of 
intellectual property) express resentment in a multitude of ways 
for not being compensated for their research and publishing 
activities.

Joe Esposito