It's Official: LAT/WP vs Free Republic Settles

LAT/WP vs Free Republic ^ | June 19, 2002 | Jim Robinson

[Jim Robinson]

I just received official word that our settlement with the LAT/WP in their alleged copyright infringement and unfair competion suit against Free Republic (click Source link above for complete history of the case) is completely finalized with the court. I do not have a copy of the final order yet, but the basic terms are as follows:

• Unless we receive prior written permission on an article by article basis, Free Republic agrees to continue posting only excerpts (as allowed by fair use) and links from any of the LAT/WP or related publications.

• Free Republic agrees to remove all full text copies of any LAT/WP and related publications copyrighted articles from its archives and servers and to destroy all copies of same.

• Neither party is awarded any damages, attorney fees or costs except that Free Republic agrees to pay the Los Angeles Times $5,000 and the Washington Post $5,000 (these negotiated amounts have already been paid).

I will post the entire final order including the list of related publications as soon as I receive a copy and get it scanned in.

Well, my fingers are not cold and dead and my keyboard has not been ripped away. While this is not entirely a win for FR, neither is it a crushing defeat. Free Republic is alive and well and the fight against liberalism continues on. It's a crying shame that the hallowed words of the WP/LAT will no longer grace our pages, but, somehow, I am sure we will manage to live on without them.

And despite what our detractors may say, we have not committed any crimes or broken any laws and we have not admitted to any guilt. We have negotiated a mutual agreement and settlement with the LAT/WP and have agreed upon satisfactory terms for continuing forward without having to spend the rest of our lives in court.

Many thanks to all of you for your past and continuing support.

Regards.

Jim Robinson

[section9]

Dear Jim and John,

Congratulations! If I haven't been the first to tell you, let me relate that our friend Eschoir was going on at the Yahoo site that the Court was going to close you down, and that once it did, he would "move on" to other things.

Well, the poor boy will be crying in his beer tonight.

Hey, Eschoir! If you happen to be lurking here, which I know you are, you were an a$$-clown, remain an a$$-clown, and always will be an a$$-clown. Now go pound sand, loser!

As for you two, Jim and John, well done! You will have to be mindful in future, however, of other news agencies who might use this agreement to apply the same rules to FR about their work-product.

All the Best!

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[CedarDave]

I see where you're going with this -- and I look forward to being able to read original, unabridged articles from other websites, if not FR.

Thanks

[zeaal]

Mr. Robinson,
May you receive great blessings for enduring this legal battle on behalf of those of us that daily (hourly, minutely) participate and appreciate FREEREPUBLIC.COM.
Thank you for your visions and endurance.
GOD BLESS YOU and YOURS!

[piasa]

I would have loved to see that picture of Freepers in hooters.

You should see the hooters on this freeper...

;-D

[Cool Guy]

ROTFLOL! Just curious, which freeper? :P

[Skel]

Thanks Jim!!
-BTT-

[RightOnline]

Face it. You won. They tired of the fight and quickly decided it wasn't worth it (besides..........they were both fully cognizant of the fact that neither FR nor the Robinson family are rolling in big dough.........so what's the use of continuing?)

They made their point, and I salute you for sticking to your guns, big guy. Long live Free Republic!!!!!! :)

[cake_crumb]

"WONDERFUL!!!!!! FREEREPUBLIC LIVES :)"

And FReepers of good concience voluntarily do not acknowledge that either the WP or LA Times exist except to post excerpts in existing threads for lampooning purposes?

[Carolinamom]

Congratulations! The end of this "fight" will be a load off your shoulders and now you can sleep better......You both deserve it and more. Thanks again for preserving this wonderful site. I can certainly live with truncated WP/LAT articles.......or none for that matter. The wonder of the internet is that there are MANY sources for news.

[sleavelessinseattle]

Congratulations, and much Relief on the left coast JR...I can't believe
you had to go through this agonizing process...We've been SLIMED!

[Lee'sGhost]

It's kind of funny when you think about it -- the LAT and WP's net gain in readers because of this? Zero. Net gain of FreeRepublic lurkers and participants -- I don't know, but I suspect it's in the thousands if not tens of thousands. Sounds like a huge win to me JimRob. You couldn't have bought that kind of publicity for $10,000. Perhaps we should send LST/WP a thank you note . . .

[AAABEST]

Thanks for the ping STT.

However, as I learned more about fair use and copyright law while designing FreeSpeech, I became more and more conscious that I was, while at FR, in essence a party to theft.

I hear this crap all the time. Next time one of you brain surgeons find yourself feeling as if you're commiting a crime because you're reading ancient, industrial-aged copyright laws, do your hypocritical self and everyone else a favor.... log the f### off and don't come back. The forum doesn't need people who aren't bright enough to realize that this "law suit" never had a damn thing to do with copyright law anyway.

The "theif" argument directed at everyone who DL's a Metallica MP3 or frequents FR or is wearing thin. The whole movement to stomp out the free exchange of digital data is turning into a giant bag of s### that is being lit on fire and thrown onto the porch of those who affiliate themselves with it. The rest of us are in the bushes laughing ourselves silly watching y'all try to stomp it out.

God bless you JR. You know that this was the best we could have gotten. Despite all of the let-downs you handled everything nearly perfectly, maybe even perfectly. I'm really amazed.

If they want to talk revenue, the LAT and WP should be happy you let them leech your traffic. FR has been a huge net gain for them and their peon writers.

[Lee'sGhost]

Thanks for the ping, CD.

[ArneFufkin]

You will risk your entire fortune and the rest of your life, but you will probably win - if the Supreme Court decides to hear your case.

Yeah that will be John Robinson III, represented by Rebeckie Ross Klayman, taking the case in front of Supreme Court Chief Justice Jack "The Impaler" Thompson Jr. and Associate Justices: Rivera-Merritt, Rivera-Estrich, Rivera-Maliveaux, Rivera-Jackson-Lee-Atta, Rivera-Waters-Medusa-Momsmabley-Auntesther, Rivera-Reno-Shalala; Rivera-VanSusteren and TLBShow-Coulter.

Of course, assume an amicus brief on behalf of the Post/Times from the carefully monitored and medicated legal team at AntiFreeper.bellvue.psycho.ny.gov. They claim someone on FreeRepublic posted the video and the musical song "Yatta" in gross violation of Japanese dignity and national pride. TexAggie79 AGAIN!!!!

[michigander]

IV. Conclusion

Although the Internet has not caused the courts to abandon or significantly deviate from traditional fair use analysis, the law is still developing. As the courts develop this law, this report will be updated.

---

Although not technically "court developed", perhaps an update is in order?
I noticed the old notification/warning about the WP/LAT articles isn't on the posts/replies entry page anymore.
Perhaps it should be re-added along with any other sources that formally request the same treatment?

[fnord]

fantastic Jim! ... FReep on :-)

[Bryan]

Congratulations, Jim. I was always confident that we could win a complete victory on the appeal. Certainly you're in a much better position to know when to accept a draw.

Five grand for the Washington Post, five grand for the New York Times, no payment of attorney's fees and no payment of costs. And they had a million-dollar judgment. If you ask me, I think they were afraid that we'd win a complete victory on the appeal.

They have accepted a pathetically tiny settlement for the purpose of keeping the terms of the injunction intact. May I recommend a new Free Republic campaign to thoroughly expose left-wing bias at the Post and the Times, done entirely with short little excerpts and links.

In other words, just because we accepted a draw here doesn't mean we won't win the war.

[KS Flyover]

Great news Jim! I'm so glad it's over with!

[Jim Robinson]

"The $10G was just a gift out of the goodness of FR's heart?"

Well, it was not bail, not damages, not attorney fees, not a fine, not restitution, not reparations, and it definitely was not an admission of any kind. Call it a parting gift or whatever you wish. We negotiated a number in good faith between 0 and 1,500,000 dollars. I'm happy as can be under the circumstances.

[cake_crumb]

"It's kind of funny when you think about it -- the LAT and WP's net gain in readers because of this? Zero."

LOL...yep...because the managerial staff of both the WP and LA Times learned the dynamics of the free market in college...

...rather than learning it from experience in the real world like real readers do.