Righthaven seeks to dismiss lawsuit against Democratic Underground

[RamboLiberal]

The Las Vegas Review-Journal's copyright enforcement company no longer wants to litigate one of its more controversial cases: a complaint against the big political website the Democratic Underground.

Righthaven LLC on Aug. 10 sued the website after a message-board poster copied to the site four paragraphs of a 34-paragraph May 13 Review-Journal story about Republican Nevada U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle titled "Tea Party power fuels Angle."

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In moving to dismiss the Democratic Underground suit this week, attorneys for Righthaven noted one of the Nevada federal judges hearing Righthaven cases, Larry Hicks, last month dismissed one of the suits on fair use grounds -- a suit involving the unauthorized copying of eight sentences of a 30-sentence story by a Realty One Group agent.

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"This motion represents Righthaven's sensible reaction to the intervening, immediately relevant fair use ruling recently issued by this court, all in the spirit of judicial economy," Righthaven said in its dismissal motion. "Though Righthaven firmly believes that the defendants are liable for copyright infringement, the non-holistic nature of the defendant's unauthorized textual reproduction is such that reasonable minds may disagree as to the legitimacy of a fair use defense."

[cleanhippie]

1. IOW, "we know we can't win, and it will cost us money"

Douchebags.

on edit: I apologize to any actual douchebags.

[mzmolly]

2. Oh please.

I hope the judge rules against them, regardless. Can a judge do so if they drop the frivolous law-suit?

[TexasObserver]

11. The judge could assess DU's attorneys fees against Righthaven.

Federal judges have broad discretion imposing sanctions against litigants. Because Righthaven is engaged in an obvious shakedown, the court may want to hold them accountable by imposing upon them attorneys fees for successful opponents. It would appear that DU's argument has won the day in a related court ruling involving another defendant.

The court could also, however, see this as a chance to get rid of a bunch of cases, and simply allow Righthaven to slink away.

I hope the court will spank Righthaven hard, and make it a public spanking, addressing their cheesy methods of using the federal court as an extortion racket.

[mzmolly]

17. "I hope the court will spank Righthaven hard, and make it a public spanking,"

I hope so too T.O. Thanks for the input. :hi:

[bemildred]

3. Failed attempt at blackmail.

"Never mind."

[WhiteTara]

4. wonder how much this little nasty business cost DU

in dismissing, can DU counter sue for frivolous harassment?

[RamboLiberal]

5. EFF defending DU did counterclaim for legal fees

EFF is seeking legal fees, no damages and a judgment that Democratic Underground did not infringe, he said.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/09/righthaven-sham/

[WhiteTara]

12. thanks for the info

good to know.

[mzmolly]

18. Very good.

Go DU! :toast:

[Hawkeye-X]

6. I hope DU presses on and get the countersuit moving

It's far past time to shut down the copyright troll down and indict 'em for fraud.

Hawkeye-X

[xultar]

7. Them fucking with DU only made me want to donate and fight more.

BACKFIRE!

[tanyev]

8. We're a "big political website"?

Dayum.

:toast:

[hlthe2b]

9. Please post a link to your OP...

thanks

[TexasObserver]

10. Hopefully, DU will move for and be awarded attorneys fees.

[WilliamPitt]

13. Link?

[Synnical]

14. Snippet of link from above

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/09/righthaven-sham/

Law firm Righthaven was formed earlier this year for the sole purpose of suing for copyright infringement. So far, its main client, Stephens Media, has publicly authorized it to sue the operators of 145 internet sites on behalf of its flagship paper, the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

San Francisco’s EFF, which has been shopping for one of the cases to take, has agreed to defend user-generated Democratic Underground, a site that says it provides “political satire and commentary for Democrats.”

It’s also filed a countersuit claiming Monday that Righthaven is a “front and sham representative” of Stephens Media with a sole mission “to seek windfall recoveries of statutory damages and to exact nuisance settlements.”

Since Righthaven was formed this spring, it has settled about 20 percent of its lawsuits for a few thousand dollars each. Righthaven even demands forfeiture of the a site’s domain, which likely fuels settlements from site owners who don’t have a lawyer or who conclude that legal fees would be more onerous than settling, said Kurt Opsahl, an EFF senior staff attorney.

[RamboLiberal]

15. Link to OP - my oops - apologies

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/nov/16/righthaven-seeks-dismiss-suit-over-posting-r-j-sto/

[stevenleser]

16. Great in the short term. In the long term, how can we be sure we arent hurting DU and are obeying

fair use practices when quoting sources? What percentage or amount of an article can be quoted without getting ourselves or DU in trouble?