Article

2010-11-19 -Lurid Crime Tales-

Righthaven Loses in Court, Changes Biz Plan to "Bankruptcy"

Well, I made up the bankruptcy part, but they have lost in a Las Vegas court. Judge ruled excerpts are indeed Fair Use. The trolls now claim they won't sue anyone who posts less than 75% of an article.

Maybe they should start advising their clients to write shorter articles?

The article further notes:

Righthaven's lawsuits frequently take advantage of a loophole in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Many of its more than 150 lawsuits arise not from articles posted by a website's proprietors but from comments and forum posts by the site's readers. Under the DMCA, a website normally enjoys effective immunity from civil copyright liability for user content, provided it promptly removes infringing material at the request of a rightsholder.

But to dock that legal safe harbor, a site has to register an official contact point for DMCA takedown notices, a process that involves filling out a form and mailing a $105 check to the government. An examination of Righthaven's lawsuits targeting user content suggests it's specifically going after sites that failed to fill out that paperwork.

Let's see what the judges think of that: the failure to file a form and pay a fee versus the willingness and ability of a website owner to remove offending material promptly upon request, form or no form. That to me sounds like a 'minor oversight' of infringement and one that judges will be looking to resolve in favor of the website, particularly small, non-commercial websites.

I'm just guessing here, but I'm going to bet that in six months RH will be out of business and its owner will be on to other things in life.

Posted by Wheregum Shins2108 2010-11-19 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11139 views ] Top

#1 "I'm just guessing here, but I'm going to bet that in six months RH will be out of business and its owner will be on to other things in life."

From your ~~lips~~ keyboard to God's ~~ear~~ eye.

Posted by Barbara Skolaut 2010-11-19 00:25|| 2010-11-19 00:25|| Front Page Top

Haha Gibson Fails!

Not so much fun when your getting counter sued along with your parent company Stevens media!

Scumm of the earth!

Posted by Jeremiah Flainter9609 2010-11-19 01:00|| 2010-11-19 01:00|| Front Page Top

#3 So, what does this mean for Rantburg?

Posted by gromky 2010-11-19 02:55|| 2010-11-19 02:55|| Front Page Top

#4 So, what does this mean for Rantburg?

Posted by gromky 2010-11-19 03:50|| 2010-11-19 03:50|| Front Page Top

#5 It's best if we don't comment openly on specifics.

AoS

Posted by Steve White 2010-11-19 09:28|| 2010-11-19 09:28|| Front Page Top

#6 Let's see what the judges think of that: the failure to file a form and pay a fee versus the willingness and ability of a website owner to remove offending material promptly upon request, form or no form.

Hmmm... not paying into the Government protection racket? And yes, IMO the $105 fee is a straight up protection racket- period.

Posted by Free Radical 2010-11-19 10:24|| 2010-11-19 10:24|| Front Page Top

#7 I would go further to suggest both that RH not be referred to by its full name, nor that articles involving it be main paged. This would be to prevent bot archives with comments that might not be helpful in the future.

Posted by Anonymoose 2010-11-19 13:05|| 2010-11-19 13:05|| Front Page Top

#8 Perhaps Rathaven, then?

Posted by gorb 2010-11-19 14:26|| 2010-11-19 14:26|| Front Page Top

#9 I'll just say that I hope y'all can keep up the good fight - I enjoy coming here and you do what you need to keep it going!

Posted by mft 2010-11-19 20:23|| 2010-11-19 20:23|| Front Page Top

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