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Friday, March 25, 2011 | 5 p.m.
Here's an update to yesterday's blog about The Associated Press launching a news licensing/royalty venture.
Yesterday, the Corporate Counsel/law.com website suggested The Associated Press is beefing up efforts for news creators to be paid for their work -- but in doing so won't be working with Las Vegas copyright enforcement company Righthaven LLC.
The Corporate Counsel writer quoted an AP attorney who asked to remain anonymous and provided details on the plan.
Corporate Counsel has now corrected that report and notes the AP had announced this initiative in February.
***
There's still no new information, in the meantime, on Righthaven's lawsuit against the thespec.com website for The Hamilton Spectator newspaper in Hamilton, Ontario. That's part of the Toronto Star group of newspapers.
That's the case where the Denver Post pat-down photo was credited to The Associated Press, which distributed the Denver Post photo to news outlets. As recently as today, thespec.com was displaying Associated Press photos -- a pretty good indication it's authorized to do so.
The Associated Press is not a news aggregator like Google. It's a news service that sells news, photos and other content to paying members and subscribers like newspapers, radio stations and TV stations.
The question remains: If thespec.com is authorized to display Associated Press photos, why is it being sued by Righthaven over a photo distributed by The Associated Press?
***
Righthaven sued two more website operators in federal court this week in Colorado over the Denver Post TSA pat-down photo.
The latest defendants accused of copyright infringement are:
• Christopher Mahon and Ambidextrous Civic Discourse, allegedly associated with the website ambidextrouscivicdiscourse.com
• Ran Decisions Inc. and Ben Schlappig; allegedly associated with the website boardingarea.com
Messages for comment were left with the defendants in these lawsuits, which as usual demand $150,000 apiece in damages and forfeiture to Righthaven of the website domain names.
These suits lift to at least 254 Righthaven's lawsuit count since it started filing lawsuits in March 2010. Fifty of those suits involve the pat-down photo.
This is pure speculation based upon my seeing the AP pick up stories from the Sun on occasion. I think something like this might have happened.
The Denver Post is (or at least was) a member of the AP News Registry. They placed the TSA pat down story and photo with the registry for further distribution in the hopes that other papers would pick it up and thereby get some extra income from it. Other members of the registry receive the story via AP and attribute it accordingly to the AP or as Mr. Green noted yesterday the AP/Denver Post. All of this makes sense so far.
The fun begins when Righthaven finds the photo on various blogs everywhere because the photo went viral. The Denver Post was correct in thinking that this would be a hot item.
When Righthaven obtained the copyright from the Denver Post (supposedly, this is open to debate now) they either didn't know that the Denver Post had a prior agreement as a member of the AP News Registry or don't understand how it works.
It's unthinkable that the Denver Post would have canceled their subscription to the AP, but it is conceivable that they might have withdrawn from participation in the registry, thinking that Righthaven might be a better way to generate revenue by copyright enforcement. (Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.)
The only reason I can think of for Righthaven to sue an AP subscriber is that RH thinks that the new agreement voids all prior copyright grants.
I'm sure Mr. Green or others at the Sun could shed some light on how the News Registry works since the Sun appears to be a member/subscriber to it.
One more possibility, the Toronto Star group, or The Hamilton Spectator in particular, is not a member/subscriber of the AP News Registry and inappropriately picked up the story. But that would indicate that AP is allowing unauthorized entities to access that feed, which is doesn't seem reasonable to me given the AP's expertise in the field of commercial news distribution.
I'm more inclined to think that Righthaven doesn't know what it is doing at times and just plain screwed up on this one.
There is one thing I have speculated on in the past but didn't think Righthaven would do because it would alienate their client newspapers but technically Righthaven could sue anyone displaying the image including the Denver Post because Righthaven ITSELF did not give permission even though Denver Post did. Technically Righthaven is the copyright owner so whatever Denver Post did prior to handing over the copyright is now irrelevant.
boftx
Just to correct your speculation. Contractually a paper must give a two year notice before withdrawing from the AP. Toronto Star is an AP affiliate so they can use what the AP offers.
There is something amiss here and I think it is high time for an official investigation. I have a feeling other AP news outlets are about to get sued as well. I have already warned the Deseret News about this because they too have the image posted with an AP credit.
This is not the end of this story.
Ken, pass whatever you're smoking or drinking around. :)
Someone posted a couple days ago that Righthaven had just filed copyright paperwork on what, about 165 more works? Was that you? In any event, I would wager that Righthaven doesn't get any more works from NewsMedia Group after this.
I just don't see how Singleton can possibly condone one business partner suing another and retain his position with both primary entities.
boftx
No it wasn't me infact they have not recieved any more copyrights of any significants. They did get a couple of porno movies but nothing from any newspaper including the LVRJ or the Denver Post for months. I think this TSA image is all they have to go on. If the Colorado Judge is anything like the Nevada Judges things do not look very good for Righthaven. In fact I have a sneaking suspicion LVRJ and Denver Post have cut them off and I get the suspicion after talking to some of the Denver Post's people "off the record" that the Denver Post is not at all pleased with what is happening and this has actually caused some major rifts within management.
Since we are speculating.....
I speculate that Duke will not win NBA championship in year 2032.
I speculate that moon has cheese somewhere near it in 2053.
I speculate that Obama will sink a 30 foot putt in 2013.
I speculate that Green will win a Pulitzer in the next 3 days.
I speculate that all the speculating by Ken and Boftx is pure speculation based on very little factual information and comes from the corners of their imagination.
I speculate that speculating most of the time is not worth the time to read or write.
Rock
You have been very quiet about this AP situation and the fact Righthaven is suing an AP affiliate who posted the TSA image along with many other newspapers. It seems like Righthaven doesn't even know who they are suing or who had prior permission. They are just shooting in the wind hoping to hit something.
Also you have not commented on the situation with the DailyKix.com. You yourself have said it is ok to post a thumbnail. Infact you speculated that one reason why Righthaven has not sued deadseriousnews.com is because they used a smaller image. DailyKix.com used a tiny thumbnail and is being sued over it.
Here is a link to the thumbnail.
http://c0658142.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspace...
As you know courts have already ruled and set precedences that thumbnails do not constitute copyright infringement.
This is another glaring example how Righthaven will sue even when they know they can't win counting on the defendant settling. DailyKix however is very aware that a thumbnail is not infringement so Righthaven may get in trouble with this case as well as the case involving the Toronto Star.
Laundry the link and story through an eastern European website.
It is looking more like Righthaven is simply finding these images on Google, doing a simple screen shot and a whois search then filing lawsuits without any other information. They obviously are not doing any kind of research on their victims who include people that may very well have had permission to post the image.
They sued the very source of a story.
Twice they have sued the wrong people
They sued someone who is completely uncollectable even if they win the case.
They sued the Toronto Star that is an AP affiliate.
They sued the DailyKix for a thumbnail that was simply linked from another social networking site.
They have sued people that are within the papers own terms of use.
This is a gang that can't shoot straight.
Rock
Lost for words?
So much for reporting the news as it happens around the world. If it happens in Vegas leave it alone, the rj will sue you for reprinting it.....as a result it stays in Vegas.....What a joke!!!
And the wicked witch said " Help me I'm melting "
Righthaven cases are becoming so absurd lately, more than usual, that if they cannot get settlements from these people it will prove extremely costly for them in court.