Columbia hit with restraining order in Encyclopaedia Iranica case
A non-profit organisation has won a temporary restraining order barring Columbia University from publishing copies of the Encyclopaedia Iranica resource.
Both the Encyclopaedia Iranica Foundation (EIF) and Columbia University claim rights to publish works under the Encyclopaedia Iranica name.
The dispute is currently the subject of litigation at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, but EIF claims that Columbia has been pressing ahead with plans to publish its own version of the encyclopaedia.
District Judge Analisa Torres has now barred the university from doing so until August 14, when she will consider EIF’s motion for a preliminary injunction.
In an opinion issued last Friday, July 31, Torres concluded that the “balance of hardships tip in EIF’s favor, and public interest is not disserved by issuing the temporary restraining order”.
The parties now have a week before they must submit any additional documentary evidence in support of their case on the preliminary injunction requested by EIF.
If granted, the injunction could stop Columbia publishing its own version of Encyclopaedia Iranica until the litigation is resolved.
EIF last Friday published volume 16 of Encyclopaedia Iranica on its website, where all previous editions of the resource are hosted.
Columbia sued EIF last August, accusing the non-profit of falsely claiming to be the rightful copyright owners.
EIF was founded in 1990 by the late Iranian historian Ehsan Yarshater, who was the founder and director of The Center for Iranian Studies at Columbia.
Columbia claims EIF began to list itself as the claimant on copyright registrations for the encyclopaedia in 2003, without the university’s knowledge.
The university wants the New York court to rule that EIF is not the owner of any copyright or trademarks in the resource.
EIF, meanwhile, claims that Columbia is trying to assign rights to publish Encyclopaedia Iranica to Brill, a publisher which the foundation says has made no contribution to the work.
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