DANVERS, Mass.--Nov. 3, 2003-- Elsevier, Inc., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., The MIT Press, Sage Publications, Inc. and the University of Chicago Press have announced they have settled their copyright infringement lawsuit against Paradigm Books, Inc., of Austin, Texas, Paradigm Course Resource, Inc. of Minneapolis, Minn., and their president and owner. The lawsuit, filed in February of 2003, charged the defendants with substantial unauthorized photocopying of materials from the plaintiffs' publications. As part of the settlement, Paradigm Books has agreed to pay an undisclosed amount in damages, to respect all copyrights owned by the plaintiffs and pay associated royalties through rights licensing agent, Copyright Clearance Center, which coordinated the lawsuit. "These days, no one doubts the necessity of occasionally having to enforce your rights in published materials. We are pleased that Paradigm has agreed to adhere to copyright law and the business practices that ensure rightsholders are compensated for the use of their content," said Mark Seeley, vice president and general counsel of Elsevier. "Infringement hurts authors, creators and the publishing industry by depriving them of the remuneration to which they are entitled. As a result, they may raise prices or reduce access to their valuable information, so everyone pays the cost of infringement," said Bob Weiner, vice president of Licensing & Rightsholder Relations, Copyright Clearance Center. "Through our licensing services, Paradigm can meet its customers' needs and be copyright compliant. This is why Copyright Clearance Center advocates for compliance: it benefits rightsholders and content users, while creating a level playing field for all coursepack providers." Copyright Clearance Center helps businesses, academic institutions, copy shops, print centers, and other users of copyrighted materials comply with copyright law through its range of licensing solutions. Royalties collected by the not-for-profit company are distributed to the publishers, authors or other copyright owners who have engaged Copyright Clearance Center as their rights licensing agent. The original claim filed by the publishers was coordinated by Copyright Clearance Center as part of the company's ongoing enforcement and education programs that promote copyright compliance.