<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:trebuchet ms,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000"><br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr">---------- Forwarded message ---------<br>From: <strong class="gmail_sendername" dir="auto">LIBLICENSE</strong> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:liblicense@gmail.com">liblicense@gmail.com</a>></span><br>Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2018 at 00:44<br>Subject: ACS and Elsevier file lawsuit against ResearchGate<br>To: <<a href="mailto:LIBLICENSE-L@listserv.crl.edu">LIBLICENSE-L@listserv.crl.edu</a>><br></div><br><br><div dir="ltr">From: Ann Shumelda Okerson <<a href="mailto:asokerson@gmail.com" target="_blank">aokerson@gmail.com</a>><br><div class="gmail_quote">Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2018 16:34:15 -0400<br><br>The complaint can be found here:<br>
<br>
<a href="https://www.infodocket.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/acs_elsevier_rgate.pdf" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.infodocket.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/acs_elsevier_rgate.pdf</a><br>
<br>
US District Court -- District of Maryland<br>
<br>
Begins :<br>
<br>
1. This action arises from the massive infringement of peer-reviewed,<br>
published journal articles (“PJAs”). Plaintiffs publish the articles<br>
in their journals and own the respective copyrights. Defendant<br>
deliberately uses infringing copies of those PJAs to drive its<br>
business.<br>
<br>
2. Founded in 1876, Plaintiff ACS is an internationally renowned<br>
professional and scientific society. It publishes over 50<br>
peer-reviewed scientific journals, primarily in the field of chemistry<br>
and related disciplines. Founded in 1880, Plaintiff Elsevier is an<br>
international multimedia publishing company. Elsevier publishes<br>
hundreds of thousands of articles annually in over 2,500 peer-reviewed<br>
journals it maintains. Founded in 2008, Defendant ResearchGate is a<br>
for-profit business that owns and operates an online social network<br>
and file sharing / download service. Each is aimed at scientists,<br>
researchers and related professionals and located on ResearchGate’s<br>
website at <a href="http://ResearchGate.net" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://ResearchGate.net</a> (the “RG Website”).<br>
<br>
3. This lawsuit focuses on ResearchGate’s intentional misconduct<br>
vis-à-vis its online file-sharing / download service, where the<br>
dissemination of unauthorized copies of PJAs constitutes an enormous<br>
infringement of the copyrights owned by ACS, Elsevier and other<br>
journal publishers. The lawsuit is not about researchers and<br>
scientists collaborating; asking and answering questions; promoting<br>
themselves, their projects, or their findings; or sharing research<br>
findings, raw data, or pre-prints of articles.<br>
<br>
4. ResearchGate’s infringing activity is no accident. Infringing<br>
copies of PJAs are a cornerstone to ResearchGate’s growth strategy.<br>
ResearchGate deliberately utilizes the infringing copies to grow the<br>
traffic to its website, its base of registered users, its digital<br>
content, and its revenues and investment from venture capital.<br>
ResearchGate knows that the PJAs at issue cannot be lawfully uploaded<br>
to and downloaded from the RG Website. Nevertheless, in violation of<br>
the rights of ACS, Elsevier, and others, ResearchGate uploads<br>
infringing copies of PJAs and encourages and induces others to do so.<br>
ResearchGate finds copies of the PJAs on the Internet and uploads them<br>
to computer servers it owns or controls. In addition, ResearchGate<br>
lures others into uploading copies of the PJAs, including by directly<br>
asking them to do so, encouraging use of a “request full-text”<br>
feature, and misleadingly promoting the concept of “selfarchiving.”<br>
ResearchGate is well aware that, as a result, it has turned the RG<br>
Website into a focal point for massive copyright infringement.<br>
<br>
[AND SO ON]<br>
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