Default judgment motion: US court awards $690k in damages against Axact

he court, in its sentence against Axact, awarded $300,000 in statutory damages for violation of the DMCA


News Desk May 22, 2015
PHOTO COURTESY: FORBES



A New Jersey court has ruled in favour of a default judgment motion filed against Axact, awarding around $690,000 in damages.


The motion was filed by Student Network Resources Inc, Student Network Resources LLC and Ross Cohen, who had filed counterclaims in response to a suit by Axact against their research websites. The counterclaimants had earlier presented evidence that Axact had violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), the Lanham Act and the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act.

In response to the counterclaims, which were filed in 2008, Axact’s legal counsel withdrew from the case. Subsequently, on April 29, 2008, a representative for Axact, Fahimul Karim Sarwat, sent a letter to the court requesting leave for the company to proceed. The court, on May 2, 2008, advised Sarwat to secure counsel immediately as corporations could only appear in court through licensed counsel. In its ruling in favour of the default judgment, the court noted that no counsel ever appeared on behalf of Axact since. “The plaintiff [Axact] has therefore defaulted on the counterclaims asserted against it by the defendants,” the court judgment read.

The court, in its sentence against Axact, awarded $300,000 in statutory damages for violation of the DMCA, $350,000 in punitive damages for violation of the Lanham Act and  $2,529.75 in damages for violation of the Consumer Fraud Act. It also directed Axact to pay the defendants’ legal fees amounting to $36,720.40.


Published in The Express Tribune, May 22nd, 2015.

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