Posted on 06/19/2002 1:54:11 PM PDT by 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
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
Thanks
You should see the hooters on this freeper...
;-D
They made their point, and I salute you for sticking to your guns, big guy. Long live Free Republic!!!!!! :)
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?
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.
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!!!!
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?
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.
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.
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