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
If we want something badly enough we can always save it our hard drive or burn it to a CD-RW.
Hiya Mojo, Eschoir and Aligyrl. How'd those predictions work out?
Great news Jim. I'm sure it's good to have this behind you!
I'm sure most of us are capable of clicking on a link, reading an article there, and then coming back to dismantle it piece by piece.
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 don't remember the original sum asked for, but it strikes me as being far more than $10,000.
While this is not entirely a win for FR, neither is it a crushing defeat.
I would call it a win. Maybe that's just me.......
Especially if each one of us brings back a paragraph. : )
bump-ola!
Remember Freepers if the relevant info can be found on several sites make sure the site you link to is not the WhiPped or the LATtie. Don't give them the click.
May I recommend a new Free Republic campaign to thoroughly expose left-wing bias at the Post and the Times, done entirely with short little excerpts and links.
Bryan has hit onto what I was thinking the moment I read John's post about finding a work around to being unable to post full text articles. My simple response would be to post 3 threads containing 1/3rds of an article with a link to each. Although I'm not sure how this could be automated, I'm sure the posting pros could work this into their routine. :o)
Good night and God Bless FR!
I am hereby awarding an attaboy to all involved.
ATTABOY
Who needs them?
That's beyond stupid. "If they didn't want me to take all the newspapers in the box, they should just dispense them one at a time." "If 7-11 doesn't want their merchandise shoplifted, they shouldn't display it out in public." "If the theatre didn't want me videotaping the movie, they shouldn't have projected it onto a big screen right in front of me." "If they didn't want me to pump gas and split, they shouldn't have put the pump so far from the cashier and allow me to fill my tank without paying first."
Nice attitude pal. Hey, if you didn't want me to come and steal your chain saw, you shouldn't have left your garage unlocked when you were at church. If you didn't want to me to have sex with your wife, you shouldn't have left her alone when I was home next door.
Do you think these pretty colors and images appear on your computer screen from some mystical energy source in another dimension? Do you understand that behind everyone of the items posted here there are businesses and investments and employees and entreprenurial dreams and damned hard work?
These places don't rely on the contributions of patrons like FR. They have a business model that is based on providing content that is interesting enough that people will visit their website to avail themselves of their news. There are advertisements for other businesses on that page. Those ad graphics - those products - are sold by businesses who also have humans and investment and employees and dreams and hard work behind them. They advertise with newsmax.com, for example, with an expectation that their ad will be viewed when someone reads the editorial content they are investing in. When the eyeball numbers don't make plan, Limbacher can't charge as much to keep these folks. If Limbacher loses his advertisers, Newsmax.com may cease operations. If Newsmax.com ceases operations, the writers he features lose revenue, the syndicator loses revenue, the network carrier loses revenue, the utility companies etc etc. Down the line. If someone's getting shortchanged, everybody loses, right?
NOT CWRWinger! Everybody is doing their part to exchange commerce and create value and prosperity EXCEPT FREE REPUBLIC. We're freeloading. We're the exploiters of other people's labor. WE'RE STEALING THEIR PROPERTY. Everybody is pulling their weight but our community here. We're parasites. Our duty is not hard. We don't have to write a check ... we don't have to sit down and bang out an interesting commentary 4 days a week. We don't have to design or maintain a web page, we don't have to sell advertising or negotiate syndication deals or sit in a Network center or buy servers and storage. We just need to double click on the link to the site we are getting the content from to do our share, to pay our righteous way. That's fair payment in this system. That's operating with integrity and responsibility. Not here, not you. Luddite.
Exactly. If you find an article of interest on these sites, look for an alternative source from which to post. They may own their reporters but they don't own the news. News happens!
Free Republic: "Demolishing the enemy a paragraph at a time."
Doesn't sound too hard eddie, does it?.......;)
Election day is less than 150 days away. After Labor Day, viewers and interest will start picking up.
Thank you and the people who worked on the legal case for all your time and effort. The suit may have had some monetary aspects and some aspiration of surpressing FreeRepublic's political influence, but I would bet the real bottom line was payback for FreeRepublic's role in bringing about the successful Impeachment of WJC.
Long Live FreeRepublic and in due course may it forever subdue the Democratic Party.
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