Children's Author Abandons Copyright Infringement Case Against Scribd

On July 15, the parties in a closely watched copyright infringement action against Scribd, Inc. requested that the federal district court dismiss the case.

San Francisco-based Scribd is a self-described "social publishing site, where tens of millions of people share original writings and documents." It stores the materials and permits users to search and retrieve them online.

A Houston author named Elaine Scott filed the suit against San Francisco based Scribd in September, 2009. Scott, who writes children's books, discovered one of her titles on Scribd's website and sent the company a takedown notice. Scribd complied, but not before approximately 100 copies of Scott's work were downloaded.

Scott's complaint presented a relatively new theory of copyright infringement in which she alleged that Scribd's system of copying copyrighted works and inserting them into a filtering system without authorization and without compensation to the authors constituted infringement of her exclusive copyright rights. Scribd maintained that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA)'s safe harbor provisions shielded the company from liability because Scribd removed Scott's work after receiving a takedown notice. Scribd also maintained that its use of the work constituted fair use. Although the case was reportedly settled, Scribd's attorney explained that Scribd did not make any payment in exchange for Scott abandoning her case. The parties filed a stipulation requesting that the case be dismissed with prejudice.

The case is Elaine Scott v. Scribd, Inc., U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas Case No. 4:09-CV-03039 MH.