Defense: Field & Stream Fires Back (Kudos to Field & Stream!)

Sharron Angle Signals Interest in Settling Copyright Lawsuit
Attorneys for Field & Stream (Bonnier Corporation):

• "The plaintiff's purported assignor (Review-Journal owner Stephens Media LLC) granted an implied license to copy and share the work (story) by posting the work on its website and by providing tools for electronically sharing the work."
• "The posting of the work by Clay Cooper was fair use. The work was attributed to the author and publisher."
• "The plaintiff's claim is barred by its unclean hands, in that the plaintiff is engaged in barratry."
• "The plaintiff's claim is barred by its unclean hands, because the alleged infringement, if any, resulted from the plaintiff's purported assignor's use and promotion of electronic tools for copying and sharing the work."
• "The plaintiff's claim is barred by copyright misuse."

See: Article in full

Bonnier is represented by Michael Crosbie of Shutts & Bowen LLP and Byrne of Snell & Wilmer.

Defense: Limitations on Exclusive Rights and the Doctrine of Exhaustion

Lawyers Argue R-J Stories on Web Aren’t Protected by Copyright

But perhaps their most interesting defense is that Righthaven’s claims are barred under Section 109 of the copyright law covering “limitations on exclusive rights: effect of transfer of particular copy;” and “the doctrine of exhaustion.”
Borghese explained the theory is based on the fact that the source of the stories at issue in the lawsuits is a publicly available web page.
When a user visits a web page, the user’s browser downloads a copy of that web page. “Thus, the Review-Journal has explicitly or implicitly authorized its website users to make a copy of the article,” Borghese said.

See: Article in full

User SamB007 comments: Well it's about time that someone goes to court with this, once they post to story on the net it's worthless, they didn't sell it to anybody at that point and if they were afraid of the copy-rights on it the never should have given it away to start with! All news papers die in 10 hours after someone buys them, they become trash, or in my house a liner for the birds we have, so we don't have to deal with their droppings! Nice way of putting it!

Defense: Estoppel, Acquiescence, Copyright Misuse, Unclean Hands, Barratry, Champerty

Defendant Accuses Righthaven of Misusing Legal System
As reported by Steve Green of the Las Vegas Sun on Sunday, a corporation being sued by Righthaven "came out swinging." The case involves California-based Internet Brands Inc. with just over 37 million cash on hand and the ownership of about 100 website brands. In answering to the suit, Internet Brands said Righthaven's claims are "barred based on the doctrine of fair use and that an 'implied license' was provided by the Review-Journal for the use of its material." Internet Brands also said Righthaven's claims are barred based on the following legal arguments:

[Please read the Las Vegas Sun article in full to better understand the below legal arguments, which I've pulled from legal definition websites.]

• Estoppel: (dictionarylaw.com) "A bar or impediment (obstruction) which precludes a person from asserting a fact or a right or prevents one from denying a fact. Such a hindrance is due to a person's actions, conduct, statements, admissions, failure to act or judgment against the person in..."
• Acquiescence: (wikipedia) "A legal term used to describe an act of a person in knowingly standing by without raising any objection to infringement of his rights, when someone else is unknowingly and honestly putting in his resources under the impression that the said rights actually belong to him..."
• Copyright Misuse: (encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com) "An equitable defense against copyright infringement in the United States based on the unreasonable conduct of the copyright owner. The doctrine forbids the copyright owner from attempting to secure an exclusive right or limited..."
• Unclean Hands: (dictionary.law.com) "A legal doctrine which is a defense to a complaint, which states that a party who is asking for a judgment cannot have the help of the court if he/she has done anything unethical in relation to the subject of the lawsuit. Thus, if a defendant can show the plaintiff..."
• Barratry: (dictionary.law.com) "Creating legal business by stirring up disputes and quarrels, generally for the benefit of the lawyer who sees fees in the matter. Barratry is illegal in all states and subject to criminal punishment and/or discipline by the state bar, but there must be a showing that..."
• Champerty: (dictionary.law.com) "An agreement between the party suing in a lawsuit (plaintiff) and another person, usually an attorney, who agrees to finance and carry the lawsuit in return for a percentage of the recovery (money won and paid). In common law this was illegal on the theory..."