Posted on 07/25/2010 5:28:37 AM PDT by Mojave
On July 21st, The Armed Citizen received an indirect and informal notice of a lawsuit against this website and its owners, David Burnett and Clayton Cramer.
The suit, reportedly filed in US District Court on July 20th, alleges that The Armed Citizen and its owners "willfully copied" and infringed on original source content from the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
According to news reports, Righthaven LLC has filed lawsuits against no less than 80 other political websites and individual blogs for "infringement."
Righthaven has offered no prior contact, cease-and-desist warnings or any attempt at good-faith resolution whatsoever.
Other defendants include FreeRepublic.com, the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and the Democrat National Committee of Nevada.
(Excerpt) Read more at thearmedcitizen.com ...
Scummy lawyers.
Or do I repeat myself?
Litigious Bastards.
Going into the crapper and grasping at straws in a hurricane. These numbnuts couldn’t find their posteriors while sitting on their hands.
When the news became a money-making business, it turned into the abomination it is today. Years ago, a journalist would love to be quoted in a hundred different places as long as he got his by-line and credits in the quotes. Now, the writer doesn’t even get a by-line and its all about hits on the website to generate advertising profits from the news.
I wonder if the LVJ uses material from other sources that might be considered copyright infringement?
Also, for them to sue and get damages as well as attorney fees, they would have to have applied for and received a copyright within 90 days of publication as far as I know... for each article in question... at a cost of $35.00 each for electronic filing with the corrupt copyright office.
I smell a rat.
Could this be a way to bring down various news sources on the net?
Could the progressives actually be behind this?
Remember, most of our better sources of news on the net keep us informed by publishing news gathered from various sources around the world.
Righthaven is buying copyrights, primarily from LVRJ, for the sole purpose of suing website owners for copyright infringement. After filing the lawsuit, Righthaven attempts to extort payment to settle out of court. Righthaven is doing this in collusion with the publisher of the LVRJ, who has stated that he is tired of people posting stories from his newspaper.
Newspapers are in desperate trouble and probably will not survive with their current business model. This publisher is lashing out at one of the reasons for their demise, the internet. He won’t succeed, but he will stifle free speech and destroy a number of innocent bloggers.
Steven Gibson, the lawyer who owns Righthaven is a bottom feeder, pure and simple. Unfortunately, the legal profession breeds mongrels of this sort and protects them and their predatory practices.
I don't think Journ-O-List will sue, though.
An interesting point. Can newspapers, et al, simply put the "C" symbol after their article without really getting a copyright on it? It may prove interesting if one of the sites under attack said, "Prove that article was actually copyrighted."
“Las Vegas Review-Journal”
Just the name of another liberal bird cage liner going under and lashing out in their final act. They are not a newspaper. They are nothing more than an advertising medium filled with liberal hate and venom and communist propaganda.
Boycott EVERY advertiser of the “Las Vegas Review-Journal”
A work is copyrighted the moment it is created. However, in order to collect damages for infringement, the copyright owner must file for copyright protection with the U. S. Copyright Office.
No filing, no collecting.
But the copyright exists from the moment of creation. That holds true for any work.
And what was it like before then? And when was that? And was it really any better.
Maybe this is what you refer to. I just started "Seven Events that made America America", and they point out that early newspapers in the USA were funded by graft and politics. The papers were pretty much direct arms of the various political parties.
The business has never been about the individual journalist. It's always been either money or politics.
Maybe some foolish journalists who were taught to idolize Walter Lippman thought it was about truth and justice and the American Way, but it seldom was. Lippman lied, Duranty covered up for Stalin, Cronkite had an agenda.
Money pays the bills. Somebody has to. And it's a good thing as that's what gives us Fox News - a news outlet that found an large underserved market, and is making good money serving that market.
Capitalism isn't perfect, it's just better than the other choices.
Go to any article on their site, and both at the top and at the bottom of the article you’ll be invited to share the article with others. That should invalidate ANY lawsuit. (But it probably won’t.)
I think your nose is in fine condition. I smell the same odor coming from the general direction of that website. (LVJ is just one of that website’s clients.)
That is US Copyright law as I understand it.
I am not a copyright lawyer.
However, the US is a signatory to the Berne Convention which does provide for simply putting "constructive notice" on your works (The © symbol), but that is not even necessary under the Berne Convention.
At the same time, the Berne Convention specifically prohibits "copyright offices" in signatory countries, and the US never closed its bureaucracy - despite being a signatory to the Berne Convention, and in a direct violation of it.
Under US law, you are offered copyright protection under the law in accordance with the Berne Convention... BUT...
You may only sue to cease and desist... UNLESS...
within 90 days (or 3 months?) of publication, you registered (paid) for the copyright with the US Copyright Office for a fee of $40.00 (or $35.00 if filed electronically - a new service).
In the event that your material was actually registered with the US Copyright Office, THEN you can sue for damages and attorney's fees.
So if you steal something over 90 days old that was not registered in the USA, they can go $#!+ in their hat if what I understand about copyright law is correct - and I am 99% certain that it is.
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