Academic Publishers Accuse Georgia State|Of Massive Illegal Copying

ATLANTA (CN) - Cambridge and Oxford University Presses claim Georgia State University illegally induces and encourages "hundreds of professors" to violate copyright on "thousands" of works, which students, and now the public, illegally download and print for free.

Plaintiffs, which include Sage Publications, say the university has blown off its requests to respect copyright. They claim GSU has downloaded more than 6,700 copyrighted works for more than 600 courses, and that "much - and likely most - of this extensive copying and distribution has been performed without authorization of the hundreds of publishers whose materials are present on the system - and certainly without the permission of Plaintiffs in this action".

The publishers claim GSU routinely violates copyright in compiling "coursepacks" aka "copy packs," which may constitute the entire reading list of a course.

"The unauthorized digital distribution of copyrighted course readings at Georgia State is pervasive, flagrant, and ongoing," the complaint states. "It has continued unabated in the face of notice and repeated attempts by Plaintiffs to reach an amicable and mutually acceptable solution without the need for litigation. All such efforts have been flatly rebuffed by Georgia State, which continues to offer digitized course offerings through the Georgia State Library electronic course reserves service," and other online outlets controlled by the college.

The publishers are represented by Edward Krugman with Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore.

This complaint was filed April 15 in Federal Court. It was not made available to Courthouse News that day.

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