GSU seeks $3.3m in legal costs following lawsuit win

Attorneys for Georgia State University (GSU) have appealed for publishers who brought a copyright suit against them to pay more than $3.3m in fees and costs, following their legal win in the long-running case.

The case began in 2008 when Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press and Sage Publications sued GSU for copyright infringement, alleging that GSU administrators engaged in "systematic, widespread and unauthorized copying and distribution of a vast amount of copyrighted works" through its e-reserves system.

In 2012, Judge Orinda Evans awarded the case to GSU and named the university the prevailing party, which entitles them to recover attorney fees and costs, explaining that the publishers’ “failure to narrow their individual infringement claims... significantly increased the cost of defending the suit”, according to Publishers Weekly. Following a recent appeal, Judge Evans found that in all but four cases the alleged infringements were fair use and again named GSU the prevailing party.

Last month, GSU attorneys asked for $3,236,235.02 for their attorneys’ fees, and an additional $85,746.39 in costs, marking an increase of $374,886.31 over the $2,861,348.71 in attorneys’ fees awarded in 2012, following GSU's first court victory for this case.

The publishers may make a further appeal.