Judge issues declaratory judgment: DU did not infringe on Review-Journal copyright

[Newsjock]

Source: Vegas Inc (Las Vegas Sun)

... On Friday, U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt in Las Vegas issued a declaratory judgment finding that the Democratic Underground did not infringe on the copyright to an R-J story when a user of the group’s website posted to the site a four-paragraph excerpt of a 34-paragraph R-J story.

... After entering judgment against Righthaven, Hunt issued the declaratory judgment on Friday. That was after Stephens Media did not contest a finding of fair use for the Democratic Underground.

"Democratic Underground and (DU official) David Allen have committed no volitional act giving rise to a claim for direct copyright infringement. (They) neither posted the excerpt nor encouraged the posting. Nor did they have any knowledge of the posting until after this suit was filed," the judgment says. "The act of posting this five-sentence excerpt of a 50-sentence news article on a political discussion forum is a fair use pursuant to (the Copyright Act) and the fair use doctrine provides a complete defense to the claim of copyright infringement from which this suit arose."

... The next step in the Democratic Underground case will be for the EFF and its associated attorneys to request their legal fees – likely in the hundreds of thousands of dollars – from Righthaven and potentially Stephens Media.

Read more: http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2012/mar/11/digital-freedom-group-gains-another-victory-over-r/

[hr]
Full ruling (4 pages, PDF): http://ia600509.us.archive.org/5/items/gov.uscourts.nvd.75386/gov.uscourts.nvd.75386.179.0.pdf

[elleng]

1. Well I declare!

This is EXCELLENT news!

[freshwest]

2. Show Skinner the money! I'm sure there will be good things done with it. And BTW,

Let this be a lesson to the right wingers to stand up to bullies and not be bullies to pretend to be strong!

[Skinner]

5. To be clear, if we do collect any money, DU is not going to get any of it.

All of it will go to pay attorneys fees. DU will not get any sort of windfall from this decision.

[freshwest]

7. I expected it, didn't mean a windfall. But good attorneys often get shorted on cases of conscience.

I've known several who've taken up good causes but receieved no fees, despite putting in a lot of time and money out of their own pockets. They can't be bought or sold, they are the good guys that make the law work for those who are without power.

[dougolat]

10. But you should, it wasn't an honest suit, it was harrassment.

The time, the worry, the diversion of energy - no small thing.

[Newsjock]

3. EFF: 'Court Declares Newspaper Excerpt on Online Forum is a Non-Infringing Fair Use'

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/03/court-declares-newspaper-excerpt-online-forum-non-infringing-fair-use

... Judge Roger Hunt’s judgment confirms that an online forum is not liable for its users’ posts, even if it was not protected by the safe harbors of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s notice and takedown provisions. The decision also clarifies that a common practice on the Internet – excerpting a few sentences and linking to interesting articles elsewhere – is a fair use, not an infringement of copyright.

Righthaven CEO Steven A. Gibson dreamed of making himself rich off of lawsuits over trivial uses of newspaper articles. Instead, his company is in ruins, his legal theories have been emphatically rejected and he is under investigation by the Nevada State Bar. His financial backer, an LLC affiliated with the Stephens family (who own the Review-Journal), lost a substantial investment with nothing to show for it. Hopefully this example will serve as a warning to those who are considering profiteering through the court system. In the mean time, we can take some small comfort that the debacle led to good rulings on fair use and online infringement.

... Meanwhile, Righthaven has continued to refuse to cooperate in the collection efforts against it, failing to pay judgments, provide documents about its assets or -- lately -- even show up at court hearings. Righthaven was ordered to show cause why it should not be held in contempt of court in another case, Righthaven v. DiBiase. EFF, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, and Chad Bowers represent Mr. DiBiase. A contempt hearing is set for March 20, where we will be seeking sanctions against Righthaven and CEO Gibson.

[Old and In the Way]

4. An important ruling for fair use and the rights to repost content on the internet.

Any other ruling would have had a disastrous impact of blogs and discussion boards.

[madokie]

6. Almost too good to be true

Talk about kicking some ass

[MaynardGeeKrebs]

8. How refreshing it is ....

to see that every once in awhile the "good guys" win one!

[MissMarple]

9. Ouch for them...Yea for us. Coloradopolitics.com got a visit from these guys, too.

Somehow Pols offended the Denver Post's delicate sensibilities about their intellectual property. It was the same thing, a random posted link. You'd think the Post would want the coverage.

[xchrom]

11. Most excellent! Nt