Posted on 08/15/2010 12:11:09 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
A website that lists the victims of Righthaven LLC's "shake down" lawsuits that are causing irreparable harm to the blogging, non-profit and small business communities.
Righthaven LLC -- a bottom feeding legal outfit -- has teamed up with the Las Vegas Review-Journal to sue 'mom and pop' websites, as well as nonprofit, political action, community action, writers, and forum board operators for copyright violations. The strategy of Righthaven is to sue hundreds and thousands of these websites and counts on the fact that many are unfunded and will be forced to "settle out of court." All cases are being filed in a Nevada Federal Court and must be fought in this jurisdiction. You are not safe from Righthaven if you are out-of-state. Are you their next victim?
(Excerpt) Read more at righthavenvictims.blogspot.com ...
From the victims list, they’re equal opportunity litigators. They’ve filed lawsuits against progressive organizations, the DUmp, Free Republic and gun rights advocates.
Are they going after those that make so much as a reference, quote or snippet from their articles? If so, I imagine Daily Kos will be on the victims list as well.
I just cant understand how they can sue for an excerpt and a link to their website.
If they don’t want their articles quoted for discussion and educational purposes, they shouldn’t publish them.
I'll blog to that!
Naming Righthaven LLC bottom feeders is being too kind.
I'll blog to that!
I don’t think they’re politically motivated. Gibson is simply a profiteering shyster. He thinks he’s going to get rich through misapplying the law and scaring the crap out of unfunded bloggers. Like us, most bloggers are shoe string operations with no assets and no resources to hire legal talent. A lawsuit for $75,000 is liable to pucker up your nether regions if the only asset you own is your house. In my case, my house is under water, so have at it.
Have any of these LVRJ suits appeared before the court yet?
Remember Saul Alinsky. Use their own rules against them!
I hope that the rumors that I hear are true: that owners of these blogs and websites are banding together to beat this guy at his own game, in court. He is operating a shakedown racket that depends in large measure on his ability to coerce his targets into an out of court settlement.
I would welcome a fund raising campaign to solicit donations to a collective defense effort that would pool resources and develop a multi-pronged attack on this bottomfeeder.
Righthaven is also suing little home hobby blogs with near zero website hits.
It is the kind of blogs your grandmother might write.
Righthaven hires some underpaid losers to Google troll the Internet for any links to that disgusting Las Vegas rag.
THEN! AND ONLY THEN! does Righthaven buy the copyright from the rag, and initiate the suit WITH NO WARNING LETTER!
Is this even a legal business model?
I don’t think so. Saw an article this morning that says approx 30% of the 100 or so cases filed so far have settled out of court for amounts ranging from $2,000 to $5,000. They also withdrew a couple. It’s a quick-buck Nigerian scam.
No cease and desist order?
What a turd.
I see.
What an SOB this guy is.
Righthaven LLC -- a bottom feeding legal outfit -- has teamed up with the Las Vegas Review-Journal to sue 'mom and pop' websites, as well as nonprofit, political action, community action, writers, and forum board operators for copyright violations.
No advance warning whatsoever. We learned we were getting sued when someone posted a news article about the suit. Waited another week before finally being served.
That just ain’t right.
There are plenty of Nevada Freepers, can we fight them in their own court?
It's a fact that this jacka$$ is doing this for no other reason that revenue. Claims that it's some sort of campaign to protect anyones copyrights are obviously just cover. The entire method stinks and seems to me should be somehow illegal and fall under a crime of conversion somehow... he's looking for reprints, THEN buying the copyright in order to cash in.
Now that I've said that, it only seems fair that when reposting someones material, it should be a short excerpt and a link to the original publisher. It's the only way they can collect the advertising revenue and continue to post the stuff online that we enjoy reading for free.
I don't think this approach is the right way to deal with the situation. Polite communication between site operators can clear up 99% of these things with no hassles.
I'm like most.. I'd like to see this shark dragging from a bumper somewhere, but we should also be taking into consideration the source of the material... and I'm speaking generally here, not in favor of these two conspirators here who are doing nothing more than strong-arming non-profits and bloggers for a quick buck.
If this guy was reasonable he would send a cease and desist order.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.