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Wounded Copyright Troll Still Alive and Kicking
Hugh Pickens writes "Steve Green writes that even as defendants who defeated Righthaven in court and won their attorney's fees complain they haven't been paid a total of $216,000 and try to seize Righthaven assets, the copyright troll proved that it is alive and kicking by filing a brief that District Judge James Mahan in Las Vegas was wrong to find an Oregon nonprofit was protected by fair use in posting an entire R-J story on the relationship between immigrants and Las Vegas police. A key factor in Mahan's decision was that the defendant, the Center for Intercultural Organizing in Portland, couldn't harm the market for a copyright to the story Righthaven obtained for lawsuit purposes from Stephens Media. Mahan also 'found that because the work was a news article, the totality of its content was informational and permissible for productive use by others,' Righthaven's outside attorney Shawn Mangano wrote in his brief that 'in reaching this erroneous conclusion, the district court failed to accord any degree of creative effort to the work (story) whatsoever.' In a second appeals brief, Mangano appeared to face an uphill challenge in arguing that Righthaven had standing to sue or should have been allowed to sue after amending its Stephens Media lawsuit contract to fix defects — assertions rejected so far by six Nevada judges. The defendants in the appeals have not yet filed their briefs, and it's likely to be months before the appeals court hears arguments on the cases."
Appropriate the internal organs of righthaven lawyers whenever they show up in court.
Everyone knows the only way to kill a troll is either acid or fire. Excuse me while I get the gasoline and matches.
after all, the entire legal foundation of the GPL is based on the enforcability of copyright law.
How many of you feel we're still going to be hearing about the ghost of Wronghaven for years to come?
I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
This is why zombie lawyers are the most feared D&D monsters. There is always something you should have been keeping in your inventory to kill them but didn't.
Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
With a legitimate argument. Sure they are going to appeal. Because they are out of business if they don't.
-- $G
Judges used to be lawyers. So you are seeing a part of the Good-ol-boy network in action.
It's how cops that are dirty or evil get protected by other cops.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Seize those too.
You don't want to stand near a dinosaur that's sinking in the tar pit, it tends to lash out.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Let's just divide everything in the world into patents. Like, Written on QWERTY vs. Not-Written-on-QWERTY. Patent on English, corresponding Patent on Non-English, whatever. Then we auction off the two patents for a trillion dollars and let the two trolls sue each other to hell.
Gently reply
Don't forget how politicians enter into the mix - take a look at how many US politicians started out as lawyers.
Then again, anyone from an honest profession can't afford to spend the amount of money it takes to run these days.
To do the car analogy for those that need it, it's like arguing that Volvo should update the in-car computer for their cars when you don't even own a Volvo.
Not exactly, everyone's entitled to have an opinion on what Volvo should do to their cars' computers (in general) whether they own one or not.
It's more like demanding that Volvo update the computer on *your* Volvo when you don't even own a Volvo (though perhaps that was what you meant anyway?!)
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
well it seems the problem was that they bought copyrights to a story that has no market besides them, so someone copying the article isn't in fact hurting their market.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Those two don't belong together.
Huh? Righthaven was ruled against, by multiple judges. They missed several deadlines to pay the fees, and US Marshals were ordered to seize their property (not sure how that turned out). To be honest, I'm not even sure how or why they can still file briefs.
If anything, Righthaven is an example of the legal system actually working more or less as it should: frivolous lawsuits get thrown out and the defendants get paid their legal fees. Or will, if Righthaven ever actually obeys the law.
"None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
I get that if someone copies a work with no revenue, they cannot be sued for lost revenue. But if copyright is owned by the copyright owner, and is their right to not allow copying, then I do not understand how someone who obviously copied something can still be innocent. They would be guilty, but not liable for damages. They should at most have to pay for the plaintiff's legal fees if being taken to court is what it took.
In the case of film and music there are huge disproportionate criminal fines in place, and you'd think it would be the same with journalism... but I guess the lobbyists weren't aggressive enough to steer the law their way!?
it's been decades since i played any sort of D&D games but don't you need fire to stop trolls regenerating?
well it seems the problem was that they bought copyrights to a story that has no market besides them
No, that's not what happened. Righthaven bought the _right to sue for copyright infringement_. And several judges told them, completely logical, that if you don't own the copyright, then you have no standing to sue, and it doesn't matter if the copyright holder sells you the right to sue.
Let's say you go to Avis and pay them money to rent a car for two weeks. So for two weeks you have the right to drive their car. Except if you lose your driving license. In that case you don't have the right to drive the car, even though Avis sold you the right to drive it.