| Textbook
Publishers Demanded Payback From
Counterfeiters Now Dismiss Nazir Yakub
Belim
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Jan 25 – Textbook publishers
led by Pearson Education, Inc.
have sued and moved for
default judgment against those
they claim sell counterfeits
of their textbooks on Amazon,
Ebay and other
platforms.
On November
20, U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of New
York Judge Ronnie Abrams held
a proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it - and identified
itself when asked.
Two of the
defendants appeared, albeit
without lawyers. They were
each given thirty days to
respond. One of them stayed on
the line to give his email
address and get the contact
information for NYLAG.
Judge
Abrams to her credit
questioning the high monetary
awards the textbook publishers
were asking for against these
pro se defendants.
The
publishers responded with the
example of two apparently
related defendants -- Madhu
Gupta and Sourabh Gupta -- one
of whom had signed a $400,000
consent decree and then just
kept on selling counterfeit
textbooks.
There was talk of
the the need for deterrence,
of counterfeiting rings in
Jordan and publishers in
China.
Ultimately
the publishers, who cut in
just as Judge Abrams was
assessing each defendant or
violation $50,000 ($30,000 for
copyright and $20,000 for
trademark), said they will
submit more detailed
information about each
defendant by "tomorrow"
(Saturday) or by next week, or
after Thanksgiving. They
want asset freezes.
Among those
suing are also Bedford,
Freeman & Worth Publishing
Group, LLC, Cengage Learning,
Inc., Elsevier Inc. and
McGraw-Hill Global Education
Holdings,
LLC.
Nazir Yakub
Belim is already known to the
court; Michael Charles McKee
apologized for failing to
respond, not opening his
father's email to see the
notices from Amazon and Ebay.
On December 4,
the plaintiffs' lawyer filed a
letter specifying the damages
sought, including $30,000 per
copyright infringed and
$200,000 per trademark
infringed against Mayloud
Ascarate, Bronislav
Teplitskiy, Leonard Johnson
and others (Guptas, "maximum
statutory damages").
Now, this
Order: "NOTICE OF VOLUNTARY
DISMISSAL AS TO DEFENDANT
NAZIR YAKUB BELIM: Pursuant to
Federal Rule of Civil
Procedure 41(a)(1)(A)(i) and a
settlement that was reached
between the parties,
Plaintiffs Pearson Education,
Inc., McGraw-Hill Global
Education Holdings, LLC,
Cengage Learning, Inc.,
Bedford, Freeman & Worth
Publishing Group, LLC, and
Elsevier Inc., hereby give
notice that their claims in
the above-captioned action
against Nazir Yakub Belim, are
voluntarily dismissed with
prejudice, with each party to
bear their own costs and fees.
The parties are advised that
if they seek to have the Court
retain jurisdiction to enforce
a settlement agreement, the
terms of the agreement must be
placed on the public record
and "so ordered" by the Court.
See Hendrickson v. United
States, 791 F.3d 354, 358 (2d
Cir. 2015). SO ORDERED. Nazir
Yakub Belim and Nazir Yakub
Belim terminated. (Signed by
Judge Ronnie Abrams on
1/25/2021)."
The case is
Pearson Education, Inc. et al
v. Doe 1 et al., 19-cv-7642
(Abrams)
***
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