Six more website operators facing Righthaven copyright lawsuits

Hotel management students in Canada are receiving a lesson in U.S. copyright law courtesy of Las Vegas copyright enforcement company Righthaven LLC.

Righthaven on Wednesday sued Imperial Hotel Management College Inc. (IHMC) in Vancouver, British Columbia, alleging copyright infringement.

The lawsuit — one of at least six filed by Righthaven on Wednesday — says a story package from the Las Vegas Review-Journal was posted without authorization on the college’s online student page.

The package from the Review-Journal posted on the site was about the “Vdara death ray” and included a story, graphic and photos initially published in the newspaper Sept. 25. The post on the college website credited the Review-Journal for the information, court records show.

Righthaven is the Review-Journal’s copyright enforcement partner that through Wednesday had sued at least 157 website operators since March. The suits, filed in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas, name as defendants website operators throughout North America.

“IHMC publicly displayed, and continues to publicly display, an unauthorized reproduction of the work (story) on the website, in derogation of Righthaven’s exclusive rights,” the lawsuit charges.

A message for comment on the lawsuit was left Wednesday with Imperial Hotel Management College.

Also sued Wednesday by Righthaven were:

• An entity called Flagstone Patio and Robert Sulimanov, who allegedly are associated with the website www.flagstonepatio.org.

• Starrtrack Electronics Inc. and Jerry Bacon, allegedly associated with the site www.explorethelaw.com

• An entity called Browseblog and Nicole Hociung, allegedly associated with the site www.browseblog.com.

• RateMyCop.Com and the alleged founder/owner of that site, Gino Sesto

• An entity called Gaminglaptops and Taylor Hawes, allegedly associated with the site www.wpparty.com

Efforts to contact the other new defendants for comment Wednesday were not immediately successful.

As in all of its recent lawsuits, Righthaven seeks $150,000 in damages and forfeiture of the defendants’ website domain names.

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