Counterfeit Textbook Sellers Face $28 Million Default Award

Textbook publishers convinced a magistrate judge to recommend a $27.7 million copyright and trademark award from a slew of Amazon.com Inc. sellers who didn’t participate in an infringement case.

Pearson Education Inc., McGraw-Hill Global Education Holdings LLC, Elsevier Inc. and others secured a default judgment in their 2018 lawsuit initially aimed at unknown parties in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. All but one defendant continued selling knock-off books on Amazon after the court issued a temporary restraining order.

Magistrate Judge Ona T. Wang recommended the damages after Judge Paul G. Gardephe entered default judgment ...