Wiley Wins One

by Jim Milliot -- Publishers Weekly, 3/28/2005

John Wiley & Sons continues its battle against online sites that sell its books illegally. In its most recent action, Wiley, in conjunction with Pearson Education, won a contempt of court complaint against GaafooBooks, a company it had previously charged with illegally selling international textbook editions to American students. In its ruling, the court found that Gaafoo had violated a consent accord it signed with the two publishers last year, in which it agreed to stop selling foreign editions in the U.S. Under the new settlement, GaafooBooks once again agreed to immediately stop its online sale of books and to pay the two publishers undisclosed damages.

Maria Danzilo, legal director for Wiley's higher education division, said the action against Gaafoo reflects Wiley's determination "to stop the sale of books that infringe our copyrights." The unlawful reselling of textbooks "hurts publishers, authors and students," Danzilo said.

The settlement with Gaafoo comes one week after Wiley filed a lawsuit against 10 individuals it accused of selling pirated e-book editions via eBay (News, Mar. 21).