Several leading higher education publishers announced that online marketplace Bonanza.com will join them in efforts to stop the sale of pirated e-textbooks by implementing a series of steps designed to prevent their sale on its platform. These steps will help disrupt digital piracy while not impeding innovation and the lawful growth of marketplaces. The educational publishers, Cengage, Elsevier, Macmillan Learning, McGraw-Hill Education and Pearson, have worked hard in recent years in partnership with distributors and sellers to combat the sale of pirated ebooks and counterfeit textbooks, which hurts authors and readers and stifles innovation and the creation of the rich content that consumers want.

In an effort to discourage the sale of infringing files, it will not maintain product categories and sub-categories for electronic copies of textbooks, and will take the following additional key steps designed to keep pirated e-textbooks, whether in the form of a PDF copy or otherwise, off its platforms:

• Implement technology, including filtering, designed to prevent the listing for sale of infringing e-textbooks.
• Continue to respond expeditiously to notices of infringement.
• Identify and terminate the accounts of repeat infringers in accordance with its repeat infringers policy.
• Include a strong and explicit prohibition against listing for sale any infringing content in its Terms of Use for its marketplaces.
• Provide information on its platforms educating sellers and consumers about copyright infringement.
• Work with copyright owners to thwart digital piracy.

“These important steps will benefit online marketplaces, the legitimate businesses who sell there, and the customers who shop there,” said Scott Zebrak, counsel for the education publishers on digital protection. “By helping combat the sale of pirated products, Bonanza is helping to eliminate the sale of illegal digital copies and PDFs that plague the industry and harm authors, customers, publishers, and legitimate sellers.” “My clients commend Bonanza for taking proactive steps to prevent the illegal use of its marketplace for infringement.”