Righthaven LLC -- a bottom feeding legal outfit -- has teamed up with the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Denver Post to sue mom and pop websites, advocacy and public interest groups and forum board operators for copyright infringement. The strategy of Righthaven is to sue thousands of these website owners, who are primarily unfunded and will be forced to settle out of court.
Righthaven lawsuitsTo date Righthaven has been ordered to pay $323,138 in legal fees and sanctions.Righthaven lawsuits

Friday, September 10, 2010

Righthaven Victim Ron Futrell: "It's Nuclear Right Out of the Box"

Posted by fairuser
Righthaven Lawsuits: A Chilling Effect on the Blogosphere?
The Las Vegas Review-Journal has contracted with a company called Righthaven. Righthaven sues web sites that they say are violating the copyright laws by sharing the R-J stories. No warning, no request to take down the material, no shot across the bow—it’s nuclear right out of the box. Virtually every other newspaper across the country asks “offending” web sites to just take down the material, and lawsuits are used only as a last resort.
Ron Futrell is a former KTNV-TV sports and news anchor. He was sued by Righthaven back in May for an alleged infringement posted to his "hobby" website named, localslovevegas.com. He notes in the end of his piece that he has many friends who are writers at the R-J and that he has "not found a single writer at that paper who is in favor of what management is doing."
Posted by fairuser at 6:08 PM

2 comments:

  1. ghann33September 11, 2010 at 1:20 PM

    Steve Friess goes into a lot more detail here regarding the R-J's staff. For instance, the lawsuits threaten reporter-source relationships. Also, endorsement season is swiftly approaching. An interesting read to be sure:
    http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/09/10/las-vegas-newspaper-sues-sharron-angle-risks-election-coverage/

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousSeptember 12, 2010 at 12:40 AM

    ghann33 -

    Great story link.

    Steve Gibson is ruining the LVRJ (just like everything else he's ever touched). His victims aren't just the penniless bloggers he's suing, but the LVRJ as well.

    I wonder if any of the staff will have the balls to stand up publicly to save their journalistic integrity?

    ReplyDelete

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