On October 26, the publisher plaintiffs in the Georgia State University (GSU) ereserves copyright case deposited $ 3,271,275 into the Commercial Registry of the Court for the Northern District of Georgia, as Judge Orinda Evans ordered. The sum, provided by the Association of American Publishers and Copyright Clearance Center as well as the plaintiffs of record (Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and Sage Publications), would more than cover the attorney’s fees and costs of GSU, the prevailing party in the dispute.
However, GSU won’t get the money right away—or, perhaps, ever. Though Judge Evans had denied a request for a delayed ruling on court costs pending the result of the publishers’ appeal to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, on October 22 she granted a motion to stay execution of the judgment. This means the money will be held in escrow until the appeal is decided. That could be a while, since not only have oral arguments not been scheduled yet, the appellants brief hasn’t even been filed—the appeals court granted the plaintiffs an extension until November 21.
Tom Allen, president and CEO of AAP, had previously told LJ, “Of all the issues in this case, we are most confident that any attorney’s fees and cost award is likely to be overturned on appeal.”
About Meredith Schwartz
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