Book Publishers Launch Copyright Infringement Suit Against Defunct Cyberlocker

This article from World IP Review discusses a new S.D. Fla. copyright infringement suit involving five textbook publishers and the now-defunct file-sharing site Hotfile. Finnegan partner Margaret A. Esquenet provided copyright insight on the case, nothing that since a recent decision involving Hotfile and Disney that was “very favorable” to rights holders, the publishing industry had been fighting online copyright infringement on “all kinds of fronts.” She said, “Assuming that [the publishers] had registered their copyrights prior to the infringement. . . I wouldn’t be surprised if they elected statutory damages rather than actual damages,” she said. Esquenet noted the publishers’ action seeks a forward-looking injunction, so that, “[If they succeed,] they’ll have an injunction in place that they can enforce, against either the proprietor or against the site itself.”