New journalism licensing group plans moderate aproach to protecting copyrights

Formed by 29 media companies, NewRight plans to act as a clearing house for content produced by major journalism ventures including the Associated Press, Hearst Newspapers, The New York Times Company and The Washington Post Company. NewsRight wants to sign up aggregators to see if they are willing to pay for news. -db From a [...]

Google finds cause in Righthaven appeal

Google has filed an amicus brief in the appeal of a Righthaven case to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals arguing for flexibility in applying the fair use doctrine. The case under appeal pitted Righthaven against the Center for Intercultural Organizing over the Center’s posting of a Las Vegas Review-Journal article. -db From the [...]

Nevada State Bar checks out Righthaven

The Nevada State Bar is investigating Righthaven’s chief executive and two lawyers who  worked for the company. Righthaven was founded to sue blogs and websites for re-posting newspaper articles without permission. The company initially collected several thousand dollars by threatening to sue but slumped after failing to prevail in any of the cases contested in [...]

News media establish company to protect content

Twenty-nine news companies are forming NewsRight, a for-profit enterprise, to protect copyrighted content and to seek fees in cases of unauthorized use of content. NewsRight intends to avoid the errors of Righthaven, the so-called copyright troll, who suffered devastating defeats in the courts caused by its shoddy practices. -db From MediaPost, January 5, 2012, by [...]

PBS’s MediaShift lists eleven top stories in media law for 2011

MediaShift’s top media law stories for 2011 include journalists’ coverage of Occupy movements; the proposed online piracy legislation; net neutrality; coverage of live police actions; Righthaven and the “hot news” doctrine. -db From a commentary in MediaShift, December 23, 2011, by Rob Arcamona, Jeff Hermes and Andy Sellars. Full story

Recording industry files amicus in Righthaven appeal

The Association of American Publishers and the Recording Industry Association of America are siding with Righthaven in its appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in an attempt to get an adverse ruling on fair use off the books. They claim in an amicus brief that it was an error to consider whether Righthaven [...]

Opinion: Righthaven overstepped but protection for newspapers still vital

Righthaven’s methods in pursuing copyright violations turned out to be bogus and unfair resulting in its bankruptcy, but, says Jeffrey D. Neuburger in MediaShift, it would be too bad if the company did not survive long enough to pursue appeals lest newspapers lose ground in receiving just compensation for their work. -db From a commentary [...]

Copyright troll Righthaven faces shutdown

A federal court in Nevada has given United States marshals authorization to seize over $63,000. in cash and/or assets from Righthaven. The Las Vegas copyright troll failed to pay a court judgment from August 15. Righthaven tried to make an enterprise out of suing bloggers over copied newspaper articles, but it was revealed in court [...]

Colorado: Blogger wins legal fees and dismissal of Righthaven lawsuit

Righthaven has lost again with a Colorado court ruling that a suit against a blogger was baseless and ordering the copyright troll to pay court costs and attorneys’ fees. In addition, the court put a stay on over 50 cases Righthaven filed in Colorado for copyright infringements. -db From the Electronic Frontier Foundation, September 28, [...]

Creditor moves to seize Righthaven assets

A man awarded legal fees for defending himself against a Righthaven copyright lawsuit asked a judge to authorize  U.S. Marshalls to seize Righthaven’s bank accounts, property and other assets. Righthaven missed the deadline to pay the $34,000 in fees. Righthaven CEO Steve Gibson said his firm would be vindicated for suing the man who had [...]

Opinion: Life after Righthaven shows promise

Commentators for the Electronic Freedom Foundation, Rainey Reitman and Kurt Opsahl, write that in the ashes of Righthaven’s attempt to capitalize on copyright infringement of newspaper articles, there is hope for a new world of free expression. The commentators commend Digital First Media for its advocacy of open sharing of content. -db From the Electronic [...]

MediaNews, Denver Post drop copyright troll Righthaven

The CEO of MediaNews Group declared it “a dumb idea” to sign up with the copyright troll Righthaven. Righthaven was founded over a year ago to make money by buying copyrights from news outlets then suing for copyright infringement. Courts have recently ruled that the Righthaven agreements with the media did not actually result in [...]

Righthaven may have filed its last copyright infringement suit

The controversial copyright  troll, Righthaven, has not filed a lawsuit in two months after punishing court rulings against the company. The firm began over a year ago supposedly to buy copyrights from news media and file suits to stop copyright infringements. Although Righthaven is appealing the court decisions that held that it had no legal [...]

Righthaven dunned for lawyer’s fees

Righthaven has lost another legal battle this time over lawyer’s fees. A federal judge order the copyright enforcement firm to pay over $3,800 to lawyers for Michael Leon whom Righthaven sued for infringment of copyright. In June a Nevada federal district judge ruled that Righthaven had no standing to sue for copyright violations of Las [...]

Buzzfeed initiating class action suit against Righthaven

Righthaven is stubbornly digging in as Buzzfeed files a counter claim against them for faulty lawsuits. Buzzfeed is arguing that Righthavens suits, filed after news outlets transfer the right to sue to Righthaven to exact monetary damages, are an “abuse of process”. Mike Masnick writes in TechDirt, “After documents were unsealed that show that the [...]

Judge issues devastating critique of Righthaven copyright business

In ruling against Righthaven in their suit against an Oregon nonprofit who posted an immigration article from the Las Vegas Review Journal, a U.S. District Court judge wrote, “[Righthaven's] litigation strategy has a chilling effect on potential fair uses of Righthaven-owned articles, diminishes public access to the facts contained therein, and does nothing to advance [...]

Opinion: Righthaven lacks exclusive copyright ownership of Stephens Media news articles

Electronic Frontier Foundation Senior Staff Attorney Kurt Opsahl says that in obtaining  from a federal district court an agreement between Righthaven and Stephens Media, it discovered that although Righthaven claimed in its suits for copyright infringement that it held exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute Stephens Media news articles, that the agreement stated that Righthaven [...]

Federal district judge rules against Righthaven copyright claim

A Nevada federal district judge ruled that an Oregon non-profit organization had fair use right to an article from the Las Vegas Review-Journal that it posted on its website. In making the ruling, the judge explained that the article was being used by Righthaven only for the sake of bringing lawsuits and was not serving [...]

Media lawyer analyzes impact of Righthaven copyright lawsuits

In a thorough analysis of the Righthaven enterprise, Jeffrey D. Neuburger, a lawyer specializing in technology and media business, says it is not likely that Righthaven litigation will significantly curtail the re-posting of online news content with links to the source. But the likelihood is getting sued by Righthaven for copyright violations is real so, [...]

Media Bloggers Association criticizes Righthaven in amicus brief

The Media Bloggers Association has asked a federal judge in Nevada to award only minimal damages and no lawyer’s fees to Righthaven who is suing a blogger for violating copyright in publishing an article from the Las Vegas Review-Journal on his website. The lawyers for the bloggers argued in the brief that the damages asked, [...]

Righthaven plans to stop suing for excerpts from news articles

Righthaven, the company of lawyers that sues blogs and websites for posting articles from client newspapers, has announced it would no longer sue when the posting constitutes an excerpt. -db Wired November 18, 2010 By David Kravets Copyright troll Righthaven this week promised to narrow its lawsuit campaign in the face of a courtroom defeat, [...]

Electronic Frontier Foundation suing Righthaven over copyright

EFF is representing the proprietor of nobodycases.co, a site that tracks unsolved murder cases, in a copyright suit brought by Righthaven after the site ran a Las Vegas Review-Journal story about a Nevada murder case. -db Wired November 1, 2010 By David Kravets Copyright troll Righthaven is facing its second lawsuit from digital rights group [...]

Copyright enforcement concern signs up second newspaper chain

Righthaven, a company that sues bloggers who repost news content without prermission, has expanded its operation to a second newspaper chain, the Arkansas-based WEHCO Media. -db Wired August 30, 2010 By David Kravets A Las Vegas company established to sue bloggers who clip news content is expanding its operations to a second newspaper chain. Righthaven [...]

EFF offers help to defendants in copyright lawsuits

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has offered to help bloggers caught in Righthaven’s copyright infringement web. -db Electronic Frontier Foundation Commentary August 25, 2010 By Eva Galperin The Electronic Frontier Foundation is seeking to assist defendants in the Righthaven copyright troll lawsuits. Righthaven, founded in March of 2010, files hundreds of copyright infringement lawsuits on behalf [...]

Blogger sued for copying news article claims license provided for republication

A blogger sued by the Las Vegas Review-Journal for republishing one of its articles has argued that the newspaper gave him “implied license” to republish by encouraging readers to save links to the work and send the links to others. -db Online Media Daily August 18, 2010 By Wendy Davis A blogger sued for allegedly [...]

Sites sued for reposting articles without ever being asked to take them down

A copyright enforcement firm has filed three lawsuits against sites they claim reposted articles from newspapers including the Las Vegas Review-Journal. -db Online Media Daily April 30, 2010 By Wendy Davis Copyright enforcement outfit Righthaven has filed three more lawsuits against sites that allegedly reproduced articles from newspapers in the Stephens Media chain, including its [...]