In compliance with a federal judge’s deadline, Baker & Taylor responded on November 6 to a motion in OCLC v. B&T. A 30-day stay expired this week, and nonprofit global library organization OCLC asked Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Preston Deavers of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio to set a scheduling conference and expedited briefing schedule.
OCLC created and develops the WorldCat reference system, and the company alleges that B&T unlawfully utilized WorldCat to fortify its rival cataloging resource, BTCat. OCLC is scheduled to respond to the court later today.
In their brief, B&T’s attorneys argued that a “fast track” for the court is “premature” and noted that a stipulated preliminary injunction already provides protection to OCLC. They said that B&T “has been busy with efforts to survive,” in addition to managing this lawsuit, and that it was unnecessary to expedite the case.
B&T also has been awaiting an independent third-party audit of BTCat, which OCLC was to pay for and which was the reason for the 30-day stay. The company claimed that OCLC proposed an “unreasonably intrusive” audit into BTCat records and data, which could have exposed “core trade secrets” that remain of value to B&T.
“The purpose of this access was explicitly limited and not intended to enable OCLC to conduct a fishing expedition into Defendants’ confidential business information,” B&T attorneys wrote in the brief, adding that “OCLC purposely let the stay expire.”
BTCat could be further evaluated through a court-ordered process of discovery, since no independent third-party audit has been conducted. If B&T were to win this case, BTCat would be a valuable asset for the foundering company, which owes millions to its creditors and is rumored to be interested in selling Baker & Taylor Publisher Services.
