CCC Settles With Copy Shop

The crackdown by publishers on illegal photocopying by copy shops has born some fruit, as Los Angeles's Westwood Copies and the three publishers who sued it have agreed to a settlement. The suit was filed in late January by the MIT Press, Sage Publications, and Wiley Periodicals Inc., with the help of the Copyright Clearance Center, against Westwood owner Elias Negash. As part of the agreement, Westwood will pay an undisclosed amount in damages for past unauthorized copying and has already begun to file permissions requests.

A settlement, said Bob Weiner, CCC v-p of licensing and rights-holder relations, has been the organization's goal all along. "Our intent is not in taking people to court," he said. "We try to prosecute those with a high profile or with enough of a frequency so people pay attention." Several other suits, including one filed last week, are pending.