US court fines copyright infringers US$37.5m

A US federal court has found two website operators guilty of intentionally infringing the copyright of up to 16,000 publishers, in a case brought by academic publisher Elsevier and supported by the International Publishers Association (IPA). The judge directed Victor Kozlov and Pavel Kazutsin, who operate the Avaxhome and Axaxsearch websites, to pay US$37.5m (A$48.2m) in damages for illegally providing access to digital copies of millions of books, as well as films, music, games and other copyrighted content. The judge cited the goal of deterring and discouraging the defendants and operators of similar websites when handing down the ruling. IPA copyright committee chairman Paul Doda said: ‘This sophisticated and massive illegal enterprise has harmed many thousands of creators and copyright holders around the world. The judge’s ruling sends a strong message and will go a long way in discouraging this kind of illegal activity.’ A permanent injunction against future infringements was also placed on the defendants, who acknowledged the suit but did not contest the case against them for intentional infringement.

Category: International news