Pa. Court Holds Onto Suit Against AcademyOne

PHILADELPHIA (CN) - A legal battle over a trove of digitized college course catalogs can be waged on multiple fronts, a federal judge ruled.

CollegeSource, a company that helps school administrators transfer students' credits, had accused education-software developer AcademyOne of stealing its digitized course catalogs in a July 2010 lawsuit alleging violations of federal anti-racketeering law in Pennsylvania's Eastern District.

But because of federal litigation already underway in California, CollegeSource tried to voluntarily dismiss its Pennsylvania case. It asked, alternatively, to transfer its case to the Sunshine State.

U.S. District Judge Mary McLaughlin refused both maneuvers Monday, noting that "the parties have actively litigated this case for over a year, and this court has expended time and energy in becoming familiar with the facts and arguments."

"To dismiss, transfer, or stay at this point would be a waste of the court's efforts," she wrote.

McLaughlin also denied AcademyOne's crossmotion to enjoin CollegeSource from prosecuting the California case.

The judge said she lacks precedential authority to prevent CollegeSource from pursuing the California case, but acknowledged that her decision "leaves open the possibility of duplicative litigation in this district and in the Southern District of California."

AcademyOne unsuccessfully pressed trademark-infringement and other claims against CollegeSource in 2008. Before it was dismissed on summary judgment, that case alleged that CollegeSource had tried to channel business from AcademyOne's website by registering a confusingly similar domain name.

Motions for summary judgment in CollegeSource's Pennsylvania case are due Jan. 30.

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