Righthaven drops infringement lawsuit against journalist

[Newsjock]

Source: Las Vegas Sun

After experiencing a quick wave of criticism, Las Vegas copyright enforcement company Righthaven LLC today dropped its lawsuit against journalist Eriq Gardner.

Many commentators noted Friday's suit over a Denver Post TSA pat-down photo appeared to be vulnerable to a fair use defense.

In writing about another Righthaven lawsuit over the Drudge Report's use of the photo, a story by Gardner on the Ars Technica website was illustrated with what appeared to be a court exhibit from the Drudge case.

... "I'd buy a 'I survived Righthaven' T-shirt, but won't for trademark reasons," Gardner quipped in a Twitter tweet after the dismissal.

Read more: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/mar/29/righthaven-drops-infringement-lawsuit-against-jour/

[Ian David]

1. He can't refuse to let RightHaven drop the case against him and then counter-sue? n/t

[groundloop]

2. Their business model is getting a bit shaky lately.

Good riddance scum.

[fantomas]

3. How do they write newspaper stories without any fair use?

This baffles me. Like in a movie review, obviously you might quote a memorable line like, "I'm the king of the world!" But since LVRJ believes in zero fair use, they would be pirating Titanic's copyrighted material. Even describing the plot of the movie would be stealing another's intellectual property.

[JackRiddler]

4. Do you seriously think they have a working model of the world?

Righthaven's strategy is several levels of intellect below that of the Nigerian bank account spammers.