The Bookseller.com

1st December 2008

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Publishers sue uni over digital content

17.04.08

A group of publishers, including OUP, CUP and Sage, have filed a legal suit in a US federal court against Georgia State University (GSU), accusing it of "pervasive, flagrant, and ongoing" copyright infringement.

The complaint, supported by the Association of American Publishers (AAP), accuses GSU of collecting and collating material from their books and journals into university website course packs. According to the AAP, While many US colleges and universities work with university presses and other publishers to ensure their uses of published materials are in accordance with US copyright law, GSU has "flatly rebuffed" efforts to reach similar agreements.

It is widely reported to be the first time publishers have challenged universities over the electronic distribution of written copyrighted works.

"Of all places, we would expect universities to respect laws protecting intellectual property and to instill their students with such respect," said Frank Smith of Cambridge University Press. Niko Pfund, vice-president of Oxford University Press, said: "We take this action in sorrow, not in anger, as we consider universities, librarians, scholars, and presses to exist in the same, mutually supportive ecosystem, and believe librarians especially to be among our most important publishing partners." But, he added: "Publishers must protect their interests and those of their authors when they believe that this spirit of cooperation—and the law itself—is being willfully and blatantly violated."

Patricia Schroeder, AAP president and c.e.o., said that respect for copyright law was "integral" to the higher education process. "Georgia State University's disregard for basic copyright protections undermines this very premise." She added that its members recognised the advantages of making course content available electronically for students: "We are simply asking Georgia State University to take the necessary measures to respect the law."

International US CUP Association of American Publishers OUP Home Sage Patricia Schroeder