DU fights back against troll suit
Political Forum Fights Back Against Righthaven Copyright Troll Suit
Bogus Copyright Claims Used to Threaten Democratic Underground</a>
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.</em>
Nice way to chill free speech, by launching endless- and spurious- lawsuits claiming copyright infringement. How many bloggers and forums will this scare into submission?
Not this one, in case you’re wondering.
