Three academic publishers have sued Georgia State University, accusing the school of "pervasive, flagrant and ongoing" copyright violations by allowing students to download course reading materials in digital format without the publishers' permission.

Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press and SAGE Publications filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Atlanta seeking a halt to the practice.

The lawsuit says the school allows professors to upload copyrighted works, posting them electronically so students can access them for their "course packs," which contain a semester's worth of reading materials.

The lawsuit was filed against GSU President Carl Patton; provost Ron Henry; Charlene Hurt, the school's dean of libraries; and J.L. Albert, associate provost for information systems and technology.

DeAnna Hines, a GSU spokeswoman, said Wednesday the university is aware of the lawsuit but had yet to receive it. She declined to comment on the publishers' claims, citing the ongoing litigation.

New York attorney R. Bruce Rich, who represents the publishers, said other universities, when they were notified, worked out license agreements with publishers for the use of copyrighted materials.

"They have managed to respect copyright principles, make customary payments for permissions and still enable the educational process to go forward without disruption," Rich said.

The publishers made repeated attempts to reach an amicable resolution, without the need for litigation, but all such efforts have been "flatly rebuffed by Georgia State," the suit says.

"With the university's encouragement, hundreds of professors employed by Georgia State have compiled thousands of copyrighted works, made them available for electronic distribution and invited students to download, view and print such materials without permission from the copyright owners," the lawsuit says.

As of Feb. 19, the university library's electronic course system listed more than 6,700 works that are available for more than 600 courses, the lawsuit says.

By allowing such widespread access, students can obtain many of the required reading materials for their courses without ever setting foot in a bookstore or spending money for them, the suit adds.

There is a "fair use" exception to the prohibition against using copyrighted material.

The concept limits the amount of copied material and assures such use does not affect the market for the published material.

The GSU course packs, which can be accessed on the school's Web site, typically contain compilations of materials.

Some, the lawsuit says, copy multiple chapters from books and large excerpts from other published works.

The publishers say that requiring payment of permission fees for use of the copyrighted material will not jeopardize the legitimate exercise of fair use.

"To the contrary, it will in fact ensure that those works continue to be produced and available to current and future generations of students," the suit says.