Righthaven extends copyright lawsuit campaign to individual Web posters

Las Vegas Sun ^ | Steve Green

[BenKenobi]

Thanks. I don’t like bullies, and this is the online equivalent of beating you up to steal your lunch money.

[fruser1]

They play the settlement game.

Go for a jury trial. Defend yourself there.

[cripplecreek]

Poverty has its silver linings.

[Free Vulcan]

Nobody should allow them to put anything so much as a name on their website without threat of a lawsuit.

[antiRepublicrat]

These guys don’t bother with DMCA takedown notices. If you notice on the front page, FR has a contact. This company circumvents that entire process, which was meant to stop infringing while allowing sites like FR to function, and goes straight to lawsuits.

It’s not for individual posters in any case though.

[Netizen]

I have a question. This is from another article.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/oct/20/righthaven-defendant-wins-first-lawsuit-dismissal-/

Righthaven is a Las Vegas company that detects online infringements to Review-Journal material, obtains copyrights to that material and then sues alleged infringers on a retroactive basis and typically without warning.

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Righthaven looks for an abuse, obtains the copyright then sues. Isn’t that like creating a law after the fact. If they didn’t have/own the copyright and the time the alleged abuse occurred, why should they be able to sue?

[antiRepublicrat]

They play the settlement game. Go for a jury trial. Defend yourself there.

They also pay the "bankrupt the defendant" game. You'd better have big bank before defending, because they'll pour money into their side in order to prevent precedent against them. Or you could get lucky and have a smart judge who will throw it out on a motion for summary judgment.

[Jim Robinson]

If there’s ever any doubt, keep your excerpts brief. It’s my understanding that non-commercial fair use allows anyone to quote portions of copyrighted material for criticism or commentary. But they’re always trying to make it tough on us peons.

[smokingfrog]

I guess it depends on how many words are in the four paragraphs? I believe FR limits posts to 300 words. Another problem we sometimes have here on FR is people changing the title of the article.

[Netizen]

I guess it depends on how many words are in the four paragraphs? I believe FR limits posts to 300 words. Another problem we sometimes have here on FR is people changing the title of the article.

Some paragraphs are bigger than others. I think it comes down to percentage. The real estate agent posted 4 paragraphs out of 34. I'm thinking a really short article, even 50 words might be too much.

[Blood of Tyrants]

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/10/dmca-righthaven-loophole/#

I sure hope Fr has spent the $105.

[rawhide]

OP, expect to be sued by ‘Wrong’haven for using their name in your post. I have avoided the lawsuit by changing their name in my post.

[smokingfrog]

I think it comes down to percentage.

Something to consider, for sure.

[OCCASparky]

Oh, damn. Guess it’s gonna be a real PITA if your posters are behind proxies. Good luck with that, Righthaven.

[Netizen]

I looked, they did! :)

[mnehring]

They can contact me about lawsuits at:

Chris Matthews
c/o MSNBC, NBC News
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, N.Y. 10112

[Netizen]

OP, expect to be sued by ‘Wrong’haven for using their name in your post. I have avoided the lawsuit by changing their name in my post.

I thought you were going to say that you were changing your screen name to Righthaven! lol

[Political Junkie Too]

What are they going to do about posters who live in foreign countries? Extradite them?

-PJ

[BuckeyeTexan]

JimRob,

They will have to subpoena you in order to obtain our personal identities or contact information, correct?