Posted on 06/19/2002 1:54:11 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
I just received official word that our settlement with the LAT/WP in their alleged copyright infringement and unfair competion suit against Free Republic (click Source link above for complete history of the case) is completely finalized with the court. I do not have a copy of the final order yet, but the basic terms are as follows:
- Unless we receive prior written permission on an article by article basis, Free Republic agrees to continue posting only excerpts (as allowed by fair use) and links from any of the LAT/WP or related publications.
- Free Republic agrees to remove all full text copies of any LAT/WP and related publications copyrighted articles from its archives and servers and to destroy all copies of same.
- Neither party is awarded any damages, attorney fees or costs except that Free Republic agrees to pay the Los Angeles Times $5,000 and the Washington Post $5,000 (these negotiated amounts have already been paid).
I will post the entire final order including the list of related publications as soon as I receive a copy and get it scanned in.
Well, my fingers are not cold and dead and my keyboard has not been ripped away. While this is not entirely a win for FR, neither is it a crushing defeat. Free Republic is alive and well and the fight against liberalism continues on. It's a crying shame that the hallowed words of the WP/LAT will no longer grace our pages, but, somehow, I am sure we will manage to live on without them.
And despite what our detractors may say, we have not committed any crimes or broken any laws and we have not admitted to any guilt. We have negotiated a mutual agreement and settlement with the LAT/WP and have agreed upon satisfactory terms for continuing forward without having to spend the rest of our lives in court.
Many thanks to all of you for your past and continuing support.
Regards.
Jim Robinson
Really? What was this lawsuit about in your opinion?
Guess there'll be no bonuses to be paid this year over at the LAT/WP or to their law firms' partners. < snicker, snicker /> Congrats, Jim.
A pretty good flame you throw there, AF. Yeh, I fully realize that Jim made an informed business decision to protect himself and others, including you and me. And I expressed that to him in an earlier post, which you might have skipped over. As I said in that post, he deliberately put himself, his family and his supporters in financial harms way in defense of a constitutional principal which probably 99% of us wouldn't have done. Now go light a flame under someone elses a$$, preferably at the LA Times or the Washington Post.
GOD BLESS FREE REPUBLIC AND THE ROBINSONS!
Bull's eye. CommonDreams.org posts full-text articles frrom both papers, but since it's a liberal "progressive" site, it doesn't get sued. The Los Angeles Times and Washington Post just wanted to shut us down because we were revealing their left-wing bias, day after day, and it was undermining their "fair and balanced reporting" scam.
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