Judge Denies Attorney's Fees to Defendant Who Inspired Many Other Victims to Fight Back

Earlier today, U.S. District Judge John Kane denied a motion by defendant Brian Hill’s attorneys that Righthaven be required to pay his legal fees. Brian Hill, who suffers from autism and other disabilities, captured the attention of the New York Times, Reporters Without Borders and many other groups and individuals for refusing to cave into Righthaven's intimidation tactics. After the ruling, Brian Hill's attorney David Kerr told VEGAS INC that he was disappointed in the ruling but that he respected it.

"I think Brian deserves to be recognized for being the first Colorado defendant to really refuse to give into Righthaven’s heavy-handed tactics and stand up and fight. I certainly do think there is a correlation between Brian’s case and the MediaNews Group’s decision not to continue their relationship with Righthaven," Kerr said.
MediaNews Group, owner of the Denver Post, disclosed this week it’s not renewing its copyright protection contract with Righthaven. The decision came after several public relations debacles, most notably about the Hill case.

See: Related VEGAS INC article
See: Judge Kane's ruling in full
See: Brian Hill's website (uswgo.com)
See: Brian Hill's Scribd collection

Blogger Ken: MediaNews Group Will Not Renew Contract with Copyright Troll Righthaven

UPDATE 09/08/11: VEGAS INC has published an important update to the MediaNews Group announcement (See: Denver Post owner not renewing Righthaven contract after PR debacles). The article discusses the numerous PR blunders that likely led MediaNews to its decision, including "headaches" caused by defendants Brian Hill, Dana Eiser, Denise Nichols and Reporters Without Borders. The now broken relationship may have legal implications for 34 open Righthaven cases.

MediaNews Group Will Not Renew Contract with Righthaven

The Denver Post is reporting that MediaNews Group, its parent company along with the Salt Lake Tribune, will not be renewing their contract with the controversial drive-by litigation group Righthaven. According to the report MediaNews Group stopped working with them "some time ago."
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MediaNews Group’s relationship with Righthaven dealt almost exclusively with one image that of the TSA agent performing a patdown that became a symbol of the "Don’t touch my junk" movement. This image had gone viral because of the national debate over the enhanced pat-downs and both MediaNews Group and Righthaven thought they had a potential goldmine. They began suing bloggers by the scores including Matt Drudge of the Drudge Report. In the beginning most settled including Drudge until Righthaven made the fatal tactical mistake of suing a mildly autistic blogger from North Carolina.

See: Related blog post in full

The news comes just after opponents appealed again to a Colorado judge to end Righthaven lawsuits over Denver Post material. See related news article: Foes seek decisive ruling against Righthaven.

Reporters Without Borders Sends Letter to Dean Singleton, Publisher of the Denver Post

The Westword reports that Reporters Without Borders, a group that usually targets dictatorships and other "iron-fist" nations that intimidate and imprison journalists, has taken note of Righthaven's shake down operation that began in Las Vegas and has stretched into European nations. The international watchdog and advocacy group is particularly concerned about the Righthaven case involving defendant Brian D. Hill. In a March 3, 2011 letter to Singleton, they wrote:

We were surprised to witness such behavior here, in the United States, while this is generally a phenomenon Reporters Without Borders witnesses in authoritarian regimes to silence netizens and intimidate journalists, bloggers and others. Therefore, we ask you to drop the lawsuit against him and find a reasonable compromise regarding his case.
As MediaNews Group Inc. is one of the largest newspaper publishers in the US, we fully understand the copyright issues that The Denver Post has to face and we are not at all supporting the theft of a picture. However, this decision led Brian Hill to close down his website, which constitutes a very bad precedent for freedom of the press in the US. Though we believe news organizations deserve to make money off their creative work, Reporters Without Borders urges The Denver Post to reconsider its approach...

See: Article in full | Read: Letter in full