Judge questions Righthaven over R-J copyright suit costs

[Newsjock]

Source: Las Vegas Sun

A federal judge on Thursday questioned Las Vegas copyright enforcement company Righthaven LLC about the litigation costs it's expecting defendants to pay.

... A hearing Thursday in federal court in Las Vegas apparently was the first time one of the Nevada judges assigned to the Righthaven cases has commented publicly on them. None of the cases has reached a point where they've gone to trial or a judge has ruled on motions to dismiss.

Thursday's hearing, a telephone conference, was for one of Righthaven's earliest and most controversial cases: A suit against Allegra Wong of Boston, who published a noncommercial blog about cats, written from the point of view of cats. Her mistake was to post on her blog a Review-Journal story about a fire that killed some birds in Las Vegas -- it apparently was posted out of concern for the animals.

... U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Johnston asked Gibson and Wong on Thursday what could be done to settle the case.

... Johnston then asked about provisions in the copyright law allowing him to order damages of just $200 for unwillful infringement and for him to use discretion in awarding costs and fees.



Read more: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/aug/26/judge-questions-righthaven-over-r-j-copyright-suit/

[notadmblnd]

1. Sounds like the judge is on to their system of extortion

[savalez]

2. This is an important case that will affect DU. Thanks Newsjock.

[xultar]

3. Fuck yeah. Get those extortion fucks. It is ok to lean on a citizen but not BP that's

How those right wing fucks roll. I hate them.

[RamboLiberal]

4. I don't think this is much help after reading the story

We need a judge who understands the internet & shuts these fools at Righthaven down for filing frivolous lawsuits. This judge may limit the damages to the cat blogger but he's really not pursuing that the Las Vegas Review Journal or any media outfit is not really being damaged when someone posts a few paragraphs from an article with a clear link back to their website to read the rest of the story.

And I see the AHole has sued another blogger. This will further the paranoia on the Right that Righthaven is Obama connected. Wonder how they explain DU being sued. :rofl:

Also, Righthaven filed at least its 103rd copyright infringement lawsuit on Wednesday in federal court in Las Vegas.

The latest defendant is Josephine Franklin, whom Righthaven says has a blog called therightwingwarriors.wordpress.com. That site allegedly displayed without authorization a June 13 column by Review-Journal columnist Vin Suprynowicz called "Ask the tyrants why they're opposed." The Review-Journal and its columnist were credited for the information, court records show.


http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/aug/26/judge-questions-righthaven-over-r-j-copyright-suit/

BTW Righthaven is suing even if you clearly followed DU's rules in posting. Suit against DU according to Las Vegas Sun was for posting 4 paragraphs with link back to Review-Journal of a 34 paragraph article!

[eppur_se_muova]

5. So what's the threshhold for being ruled a "vexatious litigant"? nt

[TommyO]

6. Ask Orly!