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Thursday, Oct. 21, 2010 | 2:05 a.m.
Sun archives
- Righthaven defendant wins first lawsuit dismissal motion (10-20-2010)
- Righthaven files, settles more copyright lawsuits (10-13-2010)
- Sharron Angle signals interest in settling copyright lawsuit (10-9-2010)
- Attorneys accuse Righthaven of settlement shakedown (10-8-2010)
- Two more website operators sued for copyright infringement (10-7-2010)
- Seven more defendants settle Righthaven copyright lawsuits (10-6-2010)
- Group plans to sue over right to sell insurance to nonprofits (10-6-2010)
- Nevada Democratic Party settles copyright lawsuit (10-2-2010)
- Righthaven reaches another copyright settlement over R-J website content (9-30-2010)
- Amid new criticism, Righthaven sues additional website operators (9-29-2010)
- R-J owner faces counterclaim in copyright lawsuit campaign (9-28-2010)
- 5 more website operators sued over R-J copyrights (9-28-2010)
- Attorneys attack Review-Journal copyright suit arrangement (9-27-2010)
- Executive says suing over R-J copyrights worth the negative publicity (9-26-2010)
- Lawyers argue R-J stories on Web aren’t protected by copyright (9-25-2010)
- Attorney: Righthaven copyright suits a free speech threat (9-23-2010)
- Observers note uncertainty over future of Righthaven/R-J copyright suits (9-21-2010)
Hotel management students in Canada are receiving a lesson in U.S. copyright law courtesy of Las Vegas copyright enforcement company Righthaven LLC.
Righthaven on Wednesday sued Imperial Hotel Management College Inc. (IHMC) in Vancouver, British Columbia, alleging copyright infringement.
The lawsuit — one of at least six filed by Righthaven on Wednesday — says a story package from the Las Vegas Review-Journal was posted without authorization on the college’s online student page.
The package from the Review-Journal posted on the site was about the “Vdara death ray” and included a story, graphic and photos initially published in the newspaper Sept. 25. The post on the college website credited the Review-Journal for the information, court records show.
Righthaven is the Review-Journal’s copyright enforcement partner that through Wednesday had sued at least 157 website operators since March. The suits, filed in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas, name as defendants website operators throughout North America.
“IHMC publicly displayed, and continues to publicly display, an unauthorized reproduction of the work (story) on the website, in derogation of Righthaven’s exclusive rights,” the lawsuit charges.
A message for comment on the lawsuit was left Wednesday with Imperial Hotel Management College.
Also sued Wednesday by Righthaven were:
• An entity called Flagstone Patio and Robert Sulimanov, who allegedly are associated with the website www.flagstonepatio.org.
• Starrtrack Electronics Inc. and Jerry Bacon, allegedly associated with the site www.explorethelaw.com
• An entity called Browseblog and Nicole Hociung, allegedly associated with the site www.browseblog.com.
• RateMyCop.Com and the alleged founder/owner of that site, Gino Sesto
• An entity called Gaminglaptops and Taylor Hawes, allegedly associated with the site www.wpparty.com
Efforts to contact the other new defendants for comment Wednesday were not immediately successful.
As in all of its recent lawsuits, Righthaven seeks $150,000 in damages and forfeiture of the defendants’ website domain names.
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there are 1000's of homeless people on the streets and you report this crap because they are your competitors!
Lawyers like these have done more damage to our country and democracy than any terrorist.
Can we sue the RJ for being such a crappy paper?
Chunky says:
Considering reports of some of the small settlements in this shakedown, this has likely turned in to an ego trip for Righthaven in addition to easy money shaking down people who can't afford to defend themselves.
That's what Chunky thinks even before he's finished his ChunkBucks espresso this morning!
Why doesn't the management at the RJ invest their time that they are putting into these law suites to finding a way to market their new paper, and make money off the few sites that are sending new customers to their paper. I find this story very interesting, as it just show how bad the management in some large business has become.
The old form letter sent out to the web sites that made the mistake of posting one of their stories and the correct way to post anything from their news paper would go a long ways to bring readership back to their new paper!
One post on the right web site could bring thousands of hit on the RJ site, don't fight other sites that send you business, use good management skills that will grow your site, and news paper!
Or continue to sue everybody that you can and see where your readership goes, I tell everybody I know to boycott the news paper, and when we start talking about the stories of all the law suites, they tell me that they already did that!
The RJ is running off their readership, gee where will it stop, do I need to worry that I sent a link to one of their stories to my mother about social security in an Email. Will it get to that point when they run out of sites they can sue?
These stories affect everybody that ever sent a link to a story, keep up the good work on reporting them!
Thanks SamB007
Attention Local LV companies that do business with the RJ. Please pull your advertising from the LV Review Journal. Do not help fund this shakedown. On another note if you are advertising with the RJ you might want to pull it due to the fact that print advertising is a complete waste of money. There are better ways to reach your demographic. Print is a dinosaur. Just look at the RJ!
Boycott LVRJ ! They need to figure out that their ambulance chaser SlimeHaven is bad for business !
I've canceled my subscription, and keep an eye on their website to avoid patronizing any businesses that advertise with them.
Going after Canadians now? Good luck with that, they wont get anything, and Canada is not going to help the stupid american lawyer.
I hope righthaven just dies already. SO annoying.
BOYCOTT RJ FOR LIFE.
Glad you are following this closely. I used to post some of their articles and hope I didn't hurt someone. Your information may help another group of lawyers slap a class action lawsuit against them. This may just blow up in their face big time.
Isn't one of the fair use defenses in regards to the item being used as educational? After all it was a college that they are suing. I'm still guessing you need permission of some kind and LVRJ would kindly agree. Or ask for payment. People out there need to stop assuming and start understanding the law. For decades now, people had a certain mindset about laws etc. and Righthaven has changed all that. Trolls can do that to you.
I've always wondered about message boards, forums, and blogs using photos that aren't theres. Photos screen capped from Movies or TV shows. Google Images coming up with numerous results and users just posting and using that information for their gain. Will we see a photography copyright caravan arrive online in the future?
With that said, Sam and Ron, that makes too much sense. And according to some out there, sending letters and regulating stuff yourself takes time and money. If my blog was stealing 200 potential new hits to the LVRJ website, what would I do if I was Righthaven? Sue and lose all those potential hits for LIFE? And make a couple thousand, or build a partnership with correct links? One has unlimited potential earnings and AD revenue link clicking, where as the other option has a cap limit of a couple thousand. What long term business person would go with that second option?
If I was an advertiser, I would question these decisions and drop funding right away. Their actions are lining the pockets of RH and the big guys at LVRJ, and the advertisers are losing customers? How fair is that?
SamB007... SOME people ARE infringing on their copyrights... and if the RJ wants to keep them, they MUST defend them. That being said... the path they have chosen to defend thier property is about the most stupid thing I have ever seen a business do. There are so many creative ways to solve the problem without making the world disgusted with them and hate them... but they don't seem to have the ability to think outside the box. Any goodwill they have is absolutely imploding all over world (since now they are suing someone in Canada). I've pulled my ad dollars from the RJ sometime ago and read my news elsewhere online. I rarely read stories on their website anymore and when they dump a free Sunday paper on my driveway (which I am sure they count in the circulation numbers they publish - what liars right?) it goes directly into my recycling bins. I live in a gated community with signs that clearly state NO SOLICITING (which is exactly what that freebie is... a solicitation)... so technically they are trespassing (crime #1). I have not requested their paper... and consider it to be worthy of the garbage bin... so they are technically littering on my private property (crime #2). I'm not a lawyer... but each incident should probably be treated as a separate criminal count and they should be fined by the city and county for criminal trespassing and serial littering. Since Fredricks & Gibson want to hold people to the letter of the law... they should be held to the same standard. They don't seem to mind "fudging" on laws that suit THEIR needs... but they are happy to sue some mom & pop blog for posting 8 of 32 sentances of a story... WITH a link back to their site. What a couple of complete dopes.
I'm wondering if I marketed voodoo dolls of the owner of that rag and his lawyer ilk, if I could make a fortune. Hmmmmm, don't violate my copyright or I'll hire some of your local shysters and sue you.