OCLC and Clarivate Have Settled Lawsuit

Below, full text of statements from OCLC and Clarivate along with links to today’s court filing and the complete case docket.

Statement From OCLC

OCLC is pleased to announce today that it successfully defended WorldCat to protect the collaborative service developed and maintained with and for libraries worldwide.

An agreement has been reached in a lawsuit filed by OCLC in June 2022 against Clarivate and its subsidiaries in the United States District Court, Southern District of Ohio.

Though the settlement document itself is confidential, two significant elements include:

• Clarivate, Ex Libris, and ProQuest have ceased the development and marketing of the MetaDoor MARC record exchange system developed using records that are subject to the WorldCat Rights and Responsibilities Policy.
• Clarivate, Ex Libris, and ProQuest will promptly and permanently delete all MetaDoor work product that incorporated or was based on records subject to the Policy.

Pursuant to the confidential agreement and elements noted above, OCLC has filed a dismissal of the lawsuit.

Member libraries, publishers, data experts, and OCLC have worked collaboratively for decades to create WorldCat. Protecting this investment and infrastructure ensures innovation for all libraries and sustainability in the future.

Statement From Clarivate

Clarivate PlC, a global leader in providing trusted information and insights to accelerate the pace of innovation, today announced that it has signed a settlement agreement and release with OCLC.

Clarivate continues to deny OCLCs allegations of wrong-doing and maintains that the issue lay between OCLC and its customers, who sought to co-create an efficient community platform for sharing of bibliographic records. Clarivate will not develop a record exchange system of MARC records that include records which OCLC has claimed are subject to its policy and contractual limitations. Clarivate will bear its own fees and costs.

Gordon Samson, Chief Product Officer at Clarivate insisted, “Clarivate will continue to support the goals of open research and data exchange – because we believe it is the best way to make the process of research and learning faster, more robust and more transparent. Regardless of business model, when scholarly information is easily accessible and shareable, the dots are easier to join, the connections are explicit, and collaborations are more natural and meaningful. The process of scientific discovery is faster, and it is easier to ensure research integrity and reproducibility.  We know that navigating the transition to open research is important to our customers, and we remain committed to helping them make that transition as seamlessly as possible.”

Court Filing and Docket

• Stipulation of Dismissal (November 7, 2022) 
  2 pages; PDF.
  
• Complete Case Docket/Filings

Background

OCLC Files Lawsuit Against Clarivate Analytics (June 15, 2022) 

Filed under: Companies (Publishers/Vendors), Data Files, Ex Libris, Libraries, News