Righthaven LLC v. Democratic Underground, LLC et al

Filing 47

DECLARATION of KURT OPSAHL re 44 Response to Motion, 46 Response to Motion, 45 Brief, ; IN SUPPORT OF OPPOSITION TO PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR VOLUNTARY DISMISSAL, MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT, AND OPPOSITION TO MOTION TO DISMISS AND JOINDER by Defendants David Allen, Democratic Underground, LLC, Counter Claimant Democratic Underground, LLC. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit A, # 2 Exhibit B, # 3 Exhibit C, # 4 Exhibit D, # 5 Exhibit E, # 6 Exhibit F, # 7 Exhibit G, # 8 Exhibit H, # 9 Exhibit I, # 10 Exhibit J, # 11 Exhibit K, # 12 Exhibit L)(Pulgram, Laurence)

Righthaven LLC v. Democratic Underground, LLC et al

Doc. 47 Att. 8

EXHIBIT H

Dockets.Justia.com

12/7/2010

Is This the Birth of the Copyright Troll?
Welcome to the New Law.com. Click here to register and get started.

SIGN IN

This Site Law.com Network Legal Web

HOME

LITIGATION

IP INSIDER

LABOR & EMPLOYMENT

TRANSACTIONS

GOVERNMENT WATCH

IN-HOUSE TECH

LAW DEPT. MANAGEMENT

PEOPLE

VIDEO

ADVERTISEMENT

Font Size:

Is This the Birth of the Copyright Troll?
Joe Mullin Corporate Counsel August 16, 2010
Print Share Email Reprints & Permissions Post a C omment

Steve Gibson is a bit taken aback by the attention his new business, copyright holding company Righthaven LLC, has begun to attract. He probably shouldn't be. After all, when you file more than 100 infringement suits in just a few months-- using a batch of newspaper copyrights to target, among others, political discussion boards, a major political party, and several of the newspaper's own sources--it's the sort of thing people tend to notice, and not always in a good way.
Steve Gibson

"It's unbelievable," says Gibson. "There appears to be a groundswell of interest in our business model." The business in question is based on an unusual shoot-first, ask-questions-later approach to IP litigation that appears to have little, if any, precedent. Gibson founded Righthaven to file suits based on newspaper copyrights he has acquired. So far, nearly all of Righthaven's suits are based on copyrights originally owned by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nevada's largest newspaper. Armed with those copyrights--and using a proprietary technology that he won't discuss--Gibson searches the Web to find examples of infringement. When he finds what he's looking for, he sues. As far as he's concerned, he's doing something that copyright holders should have started doing a long time ago. "Since the advent of the Internet, there has been an ocean of infringements of copyright that have gone unaddressed," Gibson says. "I've also seen that many media companies have been facing financial difficulties. I was inspired to pursue technological solutions and marry them with the available legal machinery." Of course, there is other legal machinery available to do what Gibson is doing, and those named in Righthaven suits and their allies wonder why the company doesn't send Digital M illennium Copyright Act takedown notices or cease-and-desist letters before filing suit. Gibson says those he sues haven't followed the DM CA's safe harbor provisions closely enough to gain the immunity from copyright suits that those provisions offer. M any targets of the Righthaven lawsuits are political blogs and discussion boards, both liberal and conservative, which have posted content--nearly always entire articles--written by Review-Journal reporters. In at least two cases, Righthaven has sued Review-Journal sources. For instance, the company sued Anthony Curtis--a Las Vegas gaming promoter whose website bills him as offering "the best information about Las Vegas and gambling"--after Curtis posted a column by R-J staffer M ike Weatherford online. (Weatherford had interviewed Curtis and wrote the column at issue based entirely on a survey conducted by Curtis's company.) In a second suit, Righthaven filed a copyright claim against Steve Stern, a former reporter who runs his own Las Vegas public relations firm and has served as a source for Review-Journal reporters. Another unusual Righthaven target is the Nevada Democratic Party, which Gibson sued for posting an ReviewJournal story on its website. M ark Hinueber, general counsel of Review-Journal parent company Stephens M edia, acknowledges that Stephens owns a small stake in Righthaven. But Hinueber insists that the prospect of making money is not what motivated the company to do business with Gibson.

Most Popular Headlines

Firms & Companies in this Article

Corporate Counsel Name the Most 'Arrogant' Law Firms Duke Energy's Assistant General Counsel, State President Fired Over Hiring Flap Whistleblower Settles Suit Against Lockheed -- But Now 'the Good Guys' Are In the Way The ACC/TAL Survey: In-House, Outside Counsel 'on Different Planets' When It Comes to Fees The ACC/TAL Survey: General Counsel, in Their Own Words

ADVERTISEMENT

www.law.com/jsp/cc/PubArticleCC.jsp?i...

1/3

12/7/2010

Is This the Birth of the Copyright Troll?

"M y hope," says Hinueber, "is we will raise awareness of copyright laws, and have more links back to our site, and have less of our material infringed on the Internet." Both Gibson and Hinueber agree that Righthaven's copyright enforcement campaign has some kinks to be worked out, especially when it comes to targeting the paper's own sources. "It was a learning curve experience," Hinueber says of the suit against Curtis, which Righthaven eventually dropped. He notes that many websites ask permission before posting the paper's articles, and that he routinely grants such permissions. "I agree that we shouldn't sue sources. But it also reminds sources that just because we wrote about you, doesn't mean you can post the whole article on your website." Despite what he sees as an occasional misstep, Gibson says he believes his unique IP enforcement push could help change the culture of the Internet when it comes to matters of copyright: "We've already seen communications to my company saying, 'What can I do to change my behavior, so I'm not disrespecting someone else's copyrights?'"
TOP JOBS

While nearly all the lawsuits filed so far have been based on Review-Journal copyrights, Gibson says he has additional clients and will be filing suits on behalf of those entities soon. Of the suits he's already filed, Gibson says about 30 percent have settled. While the settlements are all confidential, Las Vegas Sun reporter Steve Green reported this week that the settlement amounts range from $2,185 to $5,000. None of the settlements have included a transfer of the defendant's domain name to Righthaven, a demand made in each of the initial Righthaven complaints. Critics disagree that Righthaven could have any kind of positive effect and refer to the company as a "copyright troll" engaged in shaking down blogs. Stephen Bates, an assistant professor at UNLV's Hank Greenspun School of Journalism, calls the Righthaven suits "lawful but preposterous" and a "waste of judicial resources." Greenberg Traurig IP partner Ian Ballon says Gibson's business model reflects the changing nature of the media landscape--and the efforts by those among the old guard to maintain some measure of control over what becomes of their content once it's published. "Newspapers face a legitimate problem of infringement online," says Ballon. "The emergence of a copyright holding company likely reflects frustration on the part of some newspapers with online infringement." Ballon warns, however, that judges may not be inclined to award large fees in cases to a plaintiff who sues indiscriminately. M iami attorney M arc Randazza, who helped the National Organization for the Reform of M arijuana Laws defend itself against a Righthaven suit, put it somewhat more colorfully in an interview with the Las Vegas Sun reporter. "It's like setting a hungry wild pig loose in a china shop to find a piece of bacon," Randazza said. "It'll get the bacon, but it will destroy everything else in the process." For more on Righthaven, see: · Coverage by Las Vegas Sun reporter Steve Green here and here. · This story from Wired News. · Los Angeles Times media columnist James Rainey weighs in here.

***Capital Market Associate RS1NY12008L AMERICAN Legal Search, LLC New York, New York REGULATORY COUNSEL (NORTHERN SUBURB OF CHICAGO) Zenner Consulting Group, LLC Chicago, Illinois
MORE JOBS POST A JOB

ADVERTISEMENT

Subscribe to Corporate Counsel

Print

Share

Email

Reprints & Permissions

Post a C omment

LAW.COM
Newswire Special Reports International News Small Firms Lists, Surveys & Rankings Legal Blogs

ALM REGIONAL
Connecticut Law Tribune Daily Business Review (FL) Delaware Law Weekly Daily Report (GA) The Legal Intelligencer (PA) New Jersey Law Journal New York Law Journal GC New York New York Lawyer

DIRECT ORIES
ALM Experts Law Technology News Resource Guide In-House Law Departments at the Top 500 Companies New York's Women Leaders in the Law Corporate Counsel: Best Lawyers ® Annual Guides The American Lawyer: Best

BOOKS & NEWSLET T ERS
Best-Selling Books Publication E-Alerts Law Journal Newsletters LawCatalog Law Journal Press Online

EVENT S & CONF ERENCES
ALM Events LegalTech Virtual LegalTech Virtual Events Webinars & Online Events Insight Information

ALM NAT IONAL
The American Lawyer

RESEARCH
ALM Legal Intelligence Court Reporters

REPRINT S
Reprints

www.law.com/jsp/cc/PubArticleCC.jsp?i...

2/3

12/7/2010
The Am Law Litigation Daily Corporate Counsel Law Technology News Minority Law Journal The National Law Journal The Recorder (CA) Texas Lawyer

Is This the Birth of the Copyright Troll?
Lawyers ® Annual Guides The National Law Journal Leadership Profiles MA 3000 Verdict Search ALM Experts Legal Dictionary Smart Litigator

ONLINE CLE
CLE Center

CAREER
Lawjobs

About ALM | About Law .com | Customer Support | Reprints | Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Copyright 2010. ALM Media Properties, LLC. All rights reserved.

www.law.com/jsp/cc/PubArticleCC.jsp?i...

3/3