Righthaven To Explain Why Reposting Isn't Fair Use

Ponca City, We love you writes "TechDirt reports that a judge has asked Righthaven to explain why a non-profit organization reposting an entire article isn't fair use. The case involves the Center for Intercultural Organizing of Portland, Oregon, which was sued by Righthaven in August after an entire 33-paragraph Review-Journal story about Las Vegas immigrants was posted on the center's website, crediting the Review-Journal. The nonprofit says it was founded by Portland-area immigrants and refugees to combat widespread anti-Muslim sentiment after 9/11 and it works to strengthen immigrant and refugee communities through education, civic engagement, organizing and mobilization and does not charge subscription fees or derive any income from its website. The interesting thing is that the defendant in this case didn't even raise the fair use issue. It was the judge who brought it up, suggesting that the Nevada judges are being inundated with hundreds of Righthaven cases, and that Righthaven has already lost once in a case that was found to be fair use so judges may want to set a precedent to clear their dockets."

Comments

My view.

[OverlordQ]

Let's look:

the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

The center isn't for-profit, so they're likely ok here.

the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole;

Also hard to claim fair use when it's the entire 33 paragraphs.

the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

Most newspapers are for-profit, so there goes that claim. Hard to sell newspapers when others are giving away your work for free (Yes I"m ignoring the fact the lvrj posted it on their website).

Re:My view.

[Attila Dimedici]

What you are missing is that Righthaven is the plaintiff in this case and appears to be a copyright troll (that is, they have sued lots of people for copyright infringement, many times in cases that were blatantly fair use). The judge is basically saying, "I don't like you, you have wasted the court's time on numerous occassions, so I am going to force you to make the case that this use in some way damaged your revenue more than it enhanced it."

WTF is Righthaven

[slodan]

If you are like me, you thought, "What the fuck is Righthaven?"

Righthaven LLC [is] the Las Vegas “technology company” that has been filing copyright infringement lawsuits in ... Nevada against numerous unsuspecting website owners (almost always without notice) for copyright infringement of news articles originally published in the Las Vegas Review Journal.

Via http://www.righthavenlawsuits.com/.

Re:"Because we say so"

[morgan_greywolf]

While usually you'd be right, there are instances where reposting an entire article is considered fair use. For example, if the use of the article is non-commercial and does not hurt the commercial value of the original, that's basically fair use.

Understand that fair use is not a law;it's an affirmative defense in a copyright violation case. Therefore, there are few specifics as to what does and does not constitute fair use; whether a specific case is fair use depends entirely on the facts and circumstances of the case.

Re:"Because we say so"

[Anonymous Coward]

Understand that fair use is not a law;it's an affirmative defense in a copyright violation case.

That's what the *AA type lobbyists want you to believe, but if you look at the copyright law, it includes Fair Use and says that Fair Use is a limitation on the scope of the copyright monopoly. I.e., a Fair Use is by definition not infringing.

Now you may find yourself on the receiving end of a copyright suit before a court clarifies what Fair Use means, but it is part of the law, same as the artificial monopoly that it limits.

Re:"Because we say so"

[uniquename72]

if the use of the article is non-commercial and does not hurt the commercial value of the original, that's basically fair use.

No, it's not. At all. See http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html. Whether or not the original document is being used for commercial purposes is only 1/4 of the things evaluated when deciding fair use.

You CAN quote to refute a work

[Infonaut]

"You can't quote to refute a work."

Where did you get that idea? Comment and Criticism is at the heart of Fair Use Doctrine.

As for the most effective means of refutation, line by line or paragraph-by-paragraph refutation of a work of any length might be effective in the abstract, but I doubt most people would read it. In practice it is more effective to create a general framework of critique, and use selective quotes to drive your point home. This is likely why there hasn't been a hue and cry about the stifling inability in our culture to engage in argument.

I also don't understand why you put law in quotes. It is law, whether you understand it or not.

Re:"Because we say so"

[tverbeek]

For example, if the use of the article is non-commercial and does not hurt the commercial value of the original, that's basically fair use.
Understand that fair use is not a law;it's an affirmative defense in a copyright violation case. Therefore, there are few specifics as to what does and does not constitute fair use; whether a specific case is fair use depends entirely on the facts and circumstances of the case.

Saying that "fair use is not a law" is a strange statement, since it is codified in the Copyright Act of 1976. It spells out a four-part test, which includes "the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole", which this example flunks pretty badly.