Academic Publisher Threatens to Sue Blogger for $1 Billion

Threatened with prison in India

Jeffrey Beall is a metadata librarian at the University of Colorado at Denver, but he's known online for his popular blog Scholarly Open Access, where he maintains a running list of open-access journals and publishers he deems questionable or predatory.

Now, one of those publishers intends to sue Mr. Beall, and says it is seeking $1-billion in damages.

The publisher, the OMICS Publishing Group, based in India, is also warning that Mr. Beall could be imprisoned for up to three years under India's Information Technology Act, according to a letter from the group's lawyer. Mr. Beall received the letter on Tuesday from IP Markets, an Indian firm that manages intellectual-property rights.

(Hat tip to Popehat)