Copyright troll Righthaven, which sues blogs and websites for posting newspaper content without permission, is making good on its promise to expand its reach, and is now working on behalf of the nation’s second-biggest news chain.
Las Vegas-based Righthaven was formed this spring for the sole purpose of acquiring copyrights and suing to financially benefit from allegedly misappropriated intellectual property. It has filed more than 180 suits on behalf of Stephens Media’s Las Vegas Review-Journal, and has now begun suing on behalf of Denver-based MediaNews Group, which owns the San Jose Mercury News, the Denver Post and about two dozen other outlets.
RightHaven’s initial lawsuit on behalf of the Denver Post, first reported by the Las Vegas Sun, came three weeks after the paper published online a “notice to readers about Denver Post copyright protections.” In that five-paragraph notice, the outlet said its work “is illegally reproduced everyday on websites across the country.” The company wrote it was acceptable for blogs to “reproduce no more than a headline and up to a couple of paragraphs or summary of the story.”
MediaNews chief Dean Singleton, also the chairman of The Associated Press, did not immediately respond for comment. Sara Glines, a MediaNews vice president, also did not return a telephone call.
Steve Gibson, Righthaven’s chief executive, said in a brief telephone interview that “We have a substantial number of clients and business relationships that you’ll be seeing additional activity with.” He said he believes his business model will help the media capitalize on their content.
Its suit on behalf of MediaNews targets blog lowcountry912.com, a site on national and local politics. The site did not immediately respond for comment. The blog is accused of running an entire (.pdf) Denver Post column in September, entitled “Rosen: A Letter to the Tea Partyers.”
In some of its previous lawsuits, Righthaven sued over the reposting of a few paragraphs from a news article, even when the post was done by a user on a discussion board. Righthaven changed the tactic after suffering a courtroom defeat in a Review-Journal lawsuit last month.
Righthaven has settled more than 70 of its cases out of court. Terms were not made public.
Photo: Righthavenlawsuits.com
See Also:
- Newspaper Chain’s New Business Plan: Copyright Suits
- EFF Defends Former Prosecutor From Righthaven Copyright Suit
- Righthaven Says It Will Stop Suing Over News Excerpts
- The $105 Fix That Could Protect You From Copyright-Troll Lawsuits
- EFF Sues Newspaper Chain’s Copyright Troll
0 comments:
Post a Comment