Posted on 08/15/2010 5:36:18 AM PDT by shove_it
If you are a mom and pop blogger, getting hit with a Federal lawsuit out of the blue has got to be terrifying. Many of those being sued by RightHaven LLC do not have deep pockets and are afraid that they will lose everything. Clayton Cramer reported that some of those being sued will probably have to declare bankruptcy.
Fortunately, its seems that the victims and those opposed to RightHaven's tactics have started to organize. Realizing that information is key, a new website has been established called RightHavenLawsuits.com. They say their mission "is dedicated to gathering together and posting for the public information about Righthaven LLC." They have links to some of the lawsuits as well as articles on RightHaven LLC.
Another website called RightHaven Victims lists every individual, business, and blog that has been sued by RightHaven LLC for copyright violations. It encourages those sued to work together to share information and to unite to form a collective front against RightHaven LLC. They realize that one of the keys to RightHaven's success will be the use of a "divide and conquer" strategy. This website is also sharing defense strategies being used by the defendants.
A Facebook page has been established called "stop the LVRJ/RIGHTHAVEN witch hunt!" In addition to providing resources for those being sued, they are also seeking to publicize that RightHaven LLC did not give any sort of "cease and desist" or take-down letter before suing. While not required in most cases, it is the common practice to do so.
Finally, law professor Eric Johnson has a new post on his blog, Blog Law Blog, on the RightHaven LLC lawsuits. The post, entitled "Righthaven's Innovation? Stooping Lower", sets forth his opinion on what they are doing.
[...]
(Excerpt) Read more at onlygunsandmoney.blogspot.com ...
p.s.
Limit your liability.
Good call, glad to see this elevated to Breaking News. This is an important issue.
How about considering a little - money and shove from blog besieged Senator Harry Reid... Why not ... shut down the blogs relative to NV - many many U.S. Internet blogs are scorching Harry ‘The Body’ Reid... a.k.a. “Dirty Harry’... give it thought...
” On August 11, 2010 they also sued The Democratic Underground, so they can’t be that bad...”
And they filed suit against Jim Rob before DU. And about 100 other people as well. So much for not looking bad....
They have sued many non-political sites as well and increasingly so.
I still think a Vegas Freeper convention with a massive public picketing and protest in front of the LVJR would be effective. Call for subscribers to cancel their subscriptions and for right-thinking advertisers to cancel their advertisers. Maybe get some national attention that way, too. Would be great to starve the beast. It’s dangerous business for buggy-whip makers to be attacking carriage builders.
“Since the LVRJ has been known to violate other’s copyrights as well, perhaps the best defense is a good offense, by filing a whopper of a lawsuit against them directly, to teach them that “lawfare” by proxy is impolite.”
LVRJ isn’t suing anyone, the ambulance chaser bought the copyrights and he is suing as the owner, IIRC
FReepers is being sued by this guy too.....he’s an attorney that has dipped into the bottom of the scum pile where he lives.
I can’t say on a public forum what I would do if he sued me.
FREDERICK, SHERMAN R MR.
LAS VEGAS, NV 89149
STEPHENS MEDIA/PUBLISHER/C.E.O.
BUSH, GEORGE W (R) President
BUSH-CHENEY ‘04 (PRIMARY) INC $1,000
primary 11/17/03
www.newsmeat.com
Hmmmm . . . . .
“It most likely violates the law, since the DMCA requires that copyright holders give the violator a takedown notice before they take any legal action.”
Except that the DMCA ruling required the website to first post a notice with an address for their agent of service for such requests. Any website that didn’t do so loses their protection under DMCA.
Jim put up his notice two weeks ago. Word on the street is most websites, including FR, are not going to fight and are negotiating a settlement since the violations are clear and they didn’t avail themselves of the protections brought by the DMCA ruling.
They sold him those copyrights knowing full well what he intended to do with them, so they are complicit in this scheme, and need to see the other point of view, painfully.
I thought Righthaven has sued for other entities as well, although LVRJ is their main copyright client.
Another thing that can be done is to make all the advertisers and subscribers aware of what the LVRJ is doing. It ain’t pretty and it’s really bad PR. When they start losing readership and advertising revenue because of their vicious, money-grubbing tactic, they’ll tuck their tail between their legs and drop the suits.
They don’t care about politics. Any chance they can get to sue to make a dime is all they want.
It’s not a political matter with these people. They just want money.
I bet that’s news to Jimrob, who’s posted more than once saying he’s cheerfully complied with many previous DMCA requests.
for example it would not be a copyright infringement to have a Mickey Mouse sticker in the back window of your taxi cab as long as it was not being used to represent the taxi cab co, or as a promotion to sell bootleg Mickey Mouse stickers
in the same way, display of a news article as information for discussion is NOT FOR SALE and should not be considered "copyright infringement".
FR operates by donation only and offers no Las Vegas propaganda junk for sale that I know of
DMCA required the posting of a statement acknowledging a desire to comply with DMCA rules which included an agent of service. This was not done by FR until a couple weeks ago. Righthaven is suing websites that didn't comply with these requirements.
If Jim is lucky he'll get out of this being tapped for only 10k-20k, which of course the donors will easily ante up for during the next FAT. The danger is if they ask for more, Jim draws a line in the sand and they decide to go after the individual posters of the copyright work...which is an option for them. At that time Jim will have to make a decision to fight the lawsuit, which he will lose, or give up all the information he has on those posters so Righthaven can sue them personally. Rightahevn has shown they don't care who or what the target is (they're suing Democrat Underground and the Democratic Party of Nevada) they just want that 3k-10k they can get out each of them.
The problem is FR is not like most of the other small websites they have already settled with. It's one of the largest political websites in the country and has significant value. Jim may try to tie the value based on what he collects on donations, but any smart lawyer will know income generation doesn't necessarily relate to intrinsic value.
It's like someone who has owned a piece of property that has significantly increased in value but still charges a meager rent to a tenant. It's not the rent, it's the underlying value.
And that is Jim's problem with this lawsuit. Rightahven may decide to get a quick touch and go off him which would be Jim's best case scenario, but if they figure FR is worth much more than the donations Jim receives they may decide to go for the big payout. And you can believe after all these miniscule settlements they're looking for a payday off some website.
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