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."
Really? I'd say that advertising exposure is of considerable importance to "fair use". One of the four main tests is whether it reduces the commercial value of the writing, and if I can read the whole article without any chance of seeing the ads that reduces the commercial value. Otherwise, copying anything off over-the-air television would be potentially fair use, since the only commercial value of (say) a football game is to expose the viewers to commercials.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes