Has a publisher ever sued a researcher for copyright infringement for putting their articles on a personal website?

Question

I know that some publishers sometimes send copyright infringement emails to researchers putting their articles on a personal website. Has any of those publishers went ahead and sued a researcher?

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Comments

There was the case of Aaron Swartz who commited suicide after JSTOR went after him.

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While Aaron's case is relevant here in the sense of what retaliation may be triggered by copyright-related activities, it was not about uploads, nor about his articles, and he wasn't sued by a publisher (nor JSTOR), nor for copyright infringements. For details, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Swartz .

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@AlexanderKonovalov question posted on academia: http://academia.stackexchange.com/q/51941/452

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Answer 1

No precise fit to your question, but a student who posted someone else's article in an online forum is facing trial.

EDIT in response to comment:
A personal account by the student states "Although I was not the first or the only one (the document was in several sites already), for sharing knowledge –recognizing the authorship–, now the author advances a criminal case against me for “violation of economic rights and related rights.” I was told that this could result in jail sentence of 4 to 8 years."

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Comments

Wow I cannot believe it is [the author of the paper who pressed charges](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/06/trial-colombian-student-facing-prison-time-sharing-paper-online-begins-tuesday)! Is that true?

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Yep - a personal account by the student [states](https://www.karisma.org.co/compartirnoesdelito/?p=256) "Although I was not the first or the only one (the document was in several sites already), for sharing knowledge –recognizing the authorship–, now the author advances a criminal case against me for “violation of economic rights and related rights.” I was told that this could result in jail sentence of 4 to 8 years."

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FYI I moved the question to http://academia.stackexchange.com/q/51941/452 . Feel free to move answer as well.

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Answer 2

I can't remember the name, but a Canadian researcher was once, I believe.

The case being referred to in the answer above is for Diego Gomez: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/06/diego-stands-trial-today-show-your-support-open-access

Elsevier are also taking action against the academic who founded Sci-hub.org: https://torrentfreak.com/sci-hub-tears-down-academias-illegal-copyright-paywalls-150627/

There's also the case of Elsevier sending take-down notices to 100s of researchers on academia.edu: http://svpow.com/2013/12/06/elsevier-is-taking-down-papers-from-academia-edu/

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Comments

I tried to find the Canadian case you mentioned, and the closest thing I encountered was [CCH Canadian Ltd v Law Society of Upper Canada](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CCH_Canadian_Ltd_v_Law_Society_of_Upper_Canada): "A group of publishers sued the Law Society of Upper Canada for copyright infringement for providing photocopy services to researchers. The Court unanimously held that the Law Society's practice fell within the bounds of fair dealing." Is this the case you had in mind?

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FYI I moved the question to http://academia.stackexchange.com/q/51941/452 . Feel free to move answer as well.

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