Five Publishers Sue Copy Shops in Three States

For the third time in four months, the Copyright Clearance Center in Danvers, Mass., is coordinating a lawsuit on behalf of publishers—Elsevier Science, the MIT Press, Sage Publications, University of Chicago Press and John Wiley & Sons—for photocopying course packs without obtaining permissions. The newest suit was filed in U.S. district court for the central district of Illinois-Urbana-Danville last week against Notes & Quotes in Urbana-Champaign, Ill.; Paradigm Books Inc. in Austin, Tex.; Paradigm Course Resource Inc. of Minneapolis; and their president and owner Robert Pyeatt. The increased frequency of the suits reflects a stepped-up effort on the part of the CCC and publishers to combat illegal photocopying of course packs. V-p of licensing and rights-holder relations Bob Weiner said the CCC was receiving an increasing number of complaints from copy shops that operate legally about shops they charge are operating illegally. "We have received large amounts of information from shops that are compliant," Weiner told PW. "There are a large number of companies complying who feel that the people ignoring the law are undercutting their business. All we're really trying to achieve is a level playing field. On the other side, publishers are starting to recognize if they don't step forward, it's going to be an increasing problem. They've asked us to do more of these actions."