Media outlets strike back in court against Righthaven money grab

As newsprint media outlets slowly dissolve from the American landscape, or move onto the world of electronic media, the question behind fair usage comes into play.  The right to cite and use portions of an entities work in other formats has been upheld by the Supreme Court, but quite often, there are grey areas remaining on that usage.

However, over the past year, a legal organization has taken to not only exploiting those 'grey areas', but completely shattering fair use doctrine for their own monetary gain.  The organization known as Righthaven LLC, which even promotes the fact on its website that its purpose is to sue and acquire proceeds from lawsuits for itself and its clients, have blitzed the online media world by suing blogs and publications, no matter their size.

Recently, two well known online publications have fallen prey to Righthaven LLC, and they are fighting back with a vengeance.  The Democratic Underground, and the Drudge Report were both made defendants in lawsuits, even for something as simple as posting a link to their clients news story.

In an article yesterday by the Las Vegas Sun, a judge sitting over a case between an Oregon non-profit and Righthaven LLC. is evaluating the fair use policy, and to what extent a media source can protect its property from copyright infringement.

Everyone involved in the case agrees the nonprofit Center for Intercultural Organizing (CIO) of Portland posted without authorization on its website an entire 33-paragraph Review-Journal story from June 28 about Las Vegas immigrants and their relationship with the police. The post for the group that works with Portland immigrants credited the Review-Journal.

In a surprise development, U.S. District Judge James Mahan in Las Vegas ordered Righthaven to show cause why its no-warning lawsuit against the CIO should not be dismissed on fair use grounds.

This was a surprise because CIO’s attorneys had initially focused their defense on jurisdictional issues, rather than fair use issues.

It seems logical that at some point the tactics used by Righthaven LLC. will be found to be unlawful, and no longer of consequence, but until such a time as this occurs, it is prudent to be aware of the 'clients' that Righthaven represents when you choose to cite information for any means of publication.

Below are many of the online media sources and publications for which Righthaven has on its client list.

Alameda Times-StarCaliforniaAlameda
Enterprise-RecordCaliforniaChico
Times-StandardCaliforniaEureka
ArgusCaliforniaFremont
The Daily ReviewCaliforniaHayward
Lake County Record-BeeCaliforniaLakeport
Press-TelegramCaliforniaLong Beach
The Monterey County HeraldCaliforniaMonterey
Marin Independent JournalCaliforniaNovato
Oakland TribuneCaliforniaOakland
Inland Valley Daily BulletinCaliforniaOntario
Oroville Mercury-RegisterCaliforniaOroville
Pasadena Star-NewsCaliforniaPasadena
Tri-Valley HeraldCaliforniaPleasanton
Red Bluff Daily NewsCaliforniaRed Bluff
Redlands Daily FactsCaliforniaRedlands
The SunCaliforniaSan Bernardino
San Jose Mercury NewsCaliforniaSan Jose
San Mateo County TimesCaliforniaSan Mateo
Santa Cruz SentinelCaliforniaSanta Cruz
Daily BreezeCaliforniaTorrance
The Ukiah Daily JournalCaliforniaUkiah
The ReporterCaliforniaVacavilleT
imes-HeraldCaliforniaVallejo
Contra Costa TimesCaliforniaWalnut Creek
San Gabriel Valley TribuneCaliforniaWest Covina
Whittier Daily NewsCaliforniaWhittier
Daily DemocratCaliforniaWoodland
Daily NewsCaliforniaWoodland Hills
Daily CameraColoradoBoulder
The Denver PostColoradoDenver
Fort Morgan TimesColoradoFort Morgan
Journal-AdvocateColoradoSterling
Sentinel & EnterpriseMassachusettsFitchburg
The SunMassachusettsLowell
North Adams TranscriptMassachusettsNorth Adams
The Berkshire EagleMassachusettsPittsfield
The Detroit NewsMichiganDetroit
St. Paul Pioneer PressMinnesotaSt. Paul
Alamogordo Daily NewsNew MexicoAlamogordo
Carlsbad Current-ArgusNew MexicoCarlsbad
The Deming HeadlightNew MexicoDeming
The Daily TimesNew MexicoFarmington
Las Cruces Sun-NewsNew MexicoLas Cruces
Public OpinionPennsylvaniaChambersburg
The Evening SunPennsylvaniaHanover
Lebanon Daily NewsPennsylvaniaLebanon
The York DispatchPennsylvaniaYork
York Daily Record - York Sunday NewsPennsylvaniaYork
El Paso TimesTexasEl Paso
The Salt Lake TribuneUtahSalt Lake City
Bennington BannerVermontBennington
Brattleboro ReformerVermontBrattleboro
Charleston Daily Mail West Virginia Charleston

Even lawsuits that are thrown out of court cost writers and journalists time and money.  Until this issue is resolved by the court system, follow proper citations procedures, and know from where your sources are from.