Righthaven v. Democratic Underground, press release today plus links to answer/counterclaim

[blondeatlast]

Las Vegas - The online political discussion forum Democratic Underground is fighting back against a lawsuit filed by copyright troll Righthaven LLC, arguing in court documents filed Monday that the short excerpt of a news article at issue in the suit is a clear case of fair use.

Democratic Underground -- represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Winston & Strawn LLP, and attorney Chad Bowers -- was sued by Righthaven on August 10 for a five-sentence excerpt of a Las Vegas Review-Journal news story that a user posted on the forum, with a link back to the Review-Journal website. Righthaven has brought over 130 lawsuits in Nevada federal court claiming copyright infringement, even though they do not create, produce or distribute any content. Instead, they create lawsuits by scouring the Internet for content from Review-Journal stories posted on blogs and online forums, acquiring the copyright to that particular story from Stephens Media LLC (the Review-Journal's publisher), and then suing the poster for infringement.

As part of its lawsuit business model, Righthaven claims damages of up to $150,000 under the Copyright Act's statutory damages provisions and uses that threat to attempt to push defendants into a quick settlement. In the answer and counterclaim filed Monday, Democratic Underground asked the court to affirm that the excerpt of the article does not infringe copyright and is a fair use of the material, with no damages due to Righthaven.

"Democratic Underground is the largest independent discussion forum for liberals on the Internet. Thousands of people discuss and debate political issues on our site every day, particularly now during election season. Online discussion often requires quoting from news sources -- a legal fair use of the material," said Democratic Underground founder David Allen. "By targeting short excerpts of news articles with their sham copyright claims, Righthaven is chilling free and open discussion on the Internet."

More, including link to DU's answer and countreclaim (I'ma a lwa geek and paralegal, so I love this stuff!), at the EFF: http://www.eff.org/press/releases

[blondeatlast]

1. k nt

[mopinko]

2. winston and strawn???

we can't lose. the guns don't get much bigger that w&s.

[blondeatlast]

3. Indeed. Gawd, I'd love to work for them!

The counterclaim is almost funny in the way it uses Righthaven's own practices against them.

[blondeatlast]

4. Also in LBN, much discussion there:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4556835

[TexasObserver]

5. recommend