Righthaven, which is an offspring of the LVRJ, is being countered sued in a copyright infringement case. The Electronic Frontier is a group of attorneys that are counter suing LVRJ and Righthaven on behalf of the Democratic Underground. Meanwhile, Righthaven has filed up a total of 141 cases as of today.
The Democratic Underground is also being sued for using 4 paragraphs of a 34 paragraph story.
From the Las Vegas Sun: "The owner of the Las Vegas Review-Journal has for the first time been hit with a counterclaim over its online copyright infringement lawsuit campaign, with attorneys for the Electronic Frontier Foundation accusing the newspaper of entering a "sham" relationship with the Review-Journal's copyright enforcement partner Righthaven LLC -- and accusing Righthaven of copyright fraud.
Attorneys for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an influential Internet freedom of speech and privacy group based in San Francisco, filed the counterclaim Monday in federal court in Las Vegas against Review-Journal owner Stephens Media LLC as well as Righthaven."...
Besides recruiting attorneys to represent Righthaven defendants for free as a public service, attorneys for the EFF are representing the Democratic Underground LLC in a Righthaven lawsuit over the posting by a message board user of four paragraphs of a 34-paragraph Review-Journal political article.
The EFF attorneys filed their counterclaim in that case Monday, raising defenses previously raised by some other defendants including fair use; unclean hands and barratry (the alleged excessive incitement of litigation); and champerty (an allegedly improper relationship between one funding and one pursuing a lawsuit).
The EFF also raised new allegations against Righthaven, accusing it of causing "fraud upon the Copyright Office."
Besides recruiting attorneys to represent Righthaven defendants for free as a public service, attorneys for the EFF are representing the Democratic Underground LLC in a Righthaven lawsuit over the posting by a message board user of four paragraphs of a 34-paragraph Review-Journal political article. http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/sep/28/r-j-owner-faces-counterclaim-copyright-lawsuit-cam/
I am not sure of the merits of the counter suit, but it will cost Righthaven and the LVRJ money to defend the counter suit.
EFF does raise some interesting points and it will be interesting to see how a judge rules. These lawsuits are far from over and if you run a web site, be careful of what you post, especially from he LVRJ.
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They are going to win. This was fair use, pretty clear-cut. And how sleazy is it that they scour the web for LVRJ stories, THEN buy the copyright, THEN sue? And of course, they don't let you take it down or change it, they file in federal court. I know you're probably not a fan of Democratic Underground, but they sued FreeRepublic too, so this is getting everybody. Did you ever use an LVRJ pull quote? I took all of mine down, don't know if it will work or not.
ReplyDeleteSorry if my pronouns weren't clear: I think The Electronic Frontier Foundation is going to win.
ReplyDelete