Lawsuit accuses four major publishers of extorting article processing charges

4 hours ago

A lawsuit under the U.S. False Claims Act accuses four major publishers (Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley, and Informa) of a decade-long scheme to defraud the government by charging exorbitant article processing charges (APCs), up to 10 times the actual cost.
The case was unsealed on July 30, 2024, after the government declined to intervene, allowing plaintiff Juan Pablo Alperin to pursue the case independently.
Alperin, a professor at Simon Fraser University, claims he learned insider details about APC pricing and alleged conspiratorial discussions among publishers to shield free open access options and ensure unnecessary APCs continued.
The lawsuit alleges publishers used market concentration and copyright terms to fix the market, charging 'prestige prices' that knowingly passed costs to government grants.
Attorneys for Alperin have a history of successful False Claims Act cases, including settlements with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Biogen, and Duke University.
FCA attorneys had mixed views: some called it a 'niche case' with a unique theory, while others noted that the legal theories are tried and true, and the government's non-intervention does not reflect on the merits.
The case aims to create a more transparent and equitable market for open access publishing, highlighting that APC pricing is often strategic rather than based on reasonable production expenses.

The current academic publishing system is dysfunctional: universities pay for teaching, but promotions are based on research funded by external grants, and researchers often pay to publish in journals that then paywall the work.
For-profit publishers like Elsevier and Wiley exploit the system by charging high subscription fees and article processing charges, with profit margins around 40%, while providing minimal services like formatting and hosting PDFs.
Taxpayers indirectly fund these publishers multiple times—through research grants, subscription fees, and article charges—costing American universities an estimated $2.5 billion annually.

A federal judge approved a $1.5 billion settlement in which Anthropic pays authors about $3,000 per book for using pirated copies to train its Claude chatbot.
Approximately 91% of the 482,000 books covered by the ruling have been claimed by authors or publishers.
Plaintiff attorney called it the largest known copyright recovery in history.

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Despite clear evidence from emails and texts, the settlement resulted in only $3 million in total penalties and egg donations, with no admission of wrongdoing, allowing companies to avoid follow-on civil suits.

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The current academic publishing system is dysfunctional: universities pay for teaching, but promotions are based on research funded by external grants, and researchers often pay to publish in journals that then paywall the work.
For-profit publishers like Elsevier and Wiley exploit the system by charging high subscription fees and article processing charges, with profit margins around 40%, while providing minimal services like formatting and hosting PDFs.
Taxpayers indirectly fund these publishers multiple times—through research grants, subscription fees, and article charges—costing American universities an estimated $2.5 billion annually.

A federal judge approved a $1.5 billion settlement in which Anthropic pays authors about $3,000 per book for using pirated copies to train its Claude chatbot.
Approximately 91% of the 482,000 books covered by the ruling have been claimed by authors or publishers.
Plaintiff attorney called it the largest known copyright recovery in history.

Major egg producers Cal-Maine, Versova, and Hickman's were accused of price-fixing from 2022-2025, using the avian flu crisis as cover to artificially inflate egg prices.
The conspiracy involved manipulating the Urner Barry price index by submitting fake bids and sham transactions on the Egg Clearinghouse to create false demand signals, influencing wholesale contract prices.
Despite clear evidence from emails and texts, the settlement resulted in only $3 million in total penalties and egg donations, with no admission of wrongdoing, allowing companies to avoid follow-on civil suits.

Final approval granted for Anthropic's $1.5 billion settlement in a class action copyright lawsuit by authors and publishers.
Payout of $3,000 per work across approximately 500,000 works, shared among rights holders.
Judge ruled training AI on copyrighted text as fair use but found downloading books from pirate sites illegal, prompting settlement to avoid trial.

Supreme Court decisions impacting broadcasters require immediate consideration.
Declaration of Independence drafting process involved committee work and revisions.
Concerns about AI usability lagging behind rapid evolution halfway through 2026.

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