Lawsuit accuses PC World of inflating circulation

A lawsuit accuses PC World magazine of inflating its subscibers by 20,000, according to an article in Tuesday’s Newsday.

Newsday reporter Mark Harrintgon writes, “The suit, filed in federal court in Brooklyn on behalf of Boston-based software company Teletype Co. Inc., claims PC World and a top magazine official, Shawne Burke Pecar, conspired with defunct Valley Stream distributor Inflight Newspapers & Magazines and an industry auditing organization – the Audit Bureau of Circulations – to inflate the magazine’s paid circulation to charge higher advertising rates.

“It follows a suit filed by Teletype earlier this month that names Bedford Communications, publisher of Laptop magazine, and two former Bedford officials in a claim that seeks class-action status. The former Bedford officials were named last year in an ongoing criminal probe of publishing industry circulation practices that began with improprieties at Newsday. Both suits also name Remy Lehner, the former chief executive and owner of Inflight, whose lawyer yesterday declined to comment on the case.”

Read the rest of the story here. Let’s hope that that circulation scandal that has enveloped many newspapers in the past year doesn’t enter into the realm of business publications.