Even as its lawsuit model is under attack, Las Vegas copyright enforcer Righthaven LLC has reached additional settlements including one with high-profile defendant Citadel Broadcasting Co.
Righthaven disclosed in court papers last week it settled with Las Vegas-based Citadel and Citadel radio talk show host Matt Allen under undisclosed terms.
Citadel was sued Feb. 24 over allegations one its radio stations in Providence, R.I., had posted on its website without authorization a Denver Post TSA pat-down photo as part of a caption contest.
Righthaven is the copyright enforcer for the Denver Post and the Las Vegas Review-Journal that since March 2010 has filed 274 lawsuits against bloggers, message board posters and website operators.
Citadel and Allen settled without their attorney ever filing a response to the lawsuit or them commenting publicly on the allegations.
Righthaven happened to sue Citadel about the time it was working on a merger in which it’s being acquired for $2.5 billion.
But even during normal times, many big companies and other well-funded defendants that can afford to fight Righthaven haven’t done so.
Matt Drudge and the owners of Field & Stream and Motor Trend magazines, for instance, apparently found it cheaper to settle than to fight. They and their attorneys haven’t commented on why they settled.
Attorneys familiar with Righthaven say defendants like these are focused on their businesses and are inclined to let others wage fair use and First Amendment fights against Righthaven.
From a business point of view, they say it may make sense to pay Righthaven $5,000 to go away as opposed to spending tens of thousands of dollars on a lawsuit that could last for years -- and subject the defendant to $150,000 in damages and Righthaven's attorney's fees should Righthaven prevail.
This is why most of the damage inflicted against Righthaven in its lawsuits hasn’t been by corporations.
Rather, two federal judges representing an individual and a nonprofit, respectively, have ruled against Righthaven on fair use grounds while nonprofits the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Media Bloggers Association have pounded away on Righthaven’s standing to sue.
Righthaven separately said in court papers that additional cases were settled -- or Righthaven dismissed them -- under undisclosed terms in recent weeks in lawsuits against these defendants:
--Recommended Reading Inc. (TSA pat-down photo – mixx.com)
--Andy Hwang and The Fat Brat (TSA pat-down photo)
--Thomas Leyden (Review-Journal column)
--William Szirbik and Thomas C. Royce (TSA pat-down photo). "Plaintiff and defendant, William Szirbik, by and through their attorneys of record ... hereby notify the court that they have resolved their differences and hereby stipulate to a voluntary dismissal, with prejudice, of all claims asserted," a court filing in that case says.
--Uberpix.net and Hetal Jannu (TSA pat-down photo)
--Shining Sea Communications Inc., Alaska TravelGram and Scott Douglas McMurren (TSA pat-down photo)
--Dogster Inc., Ted Rheingold and Maria Goodavage (TSA pat-down photo – dogster.com)
--Mezmerizing Llama LLC and Charles Atkins (Review-Journal story and column)
--Pamela Spaulding (TSA pat-down photo)
--Ranker LLC and Ariel Kana, (TSA pat-down photo – ranker.com)
--Internet Business Center LLC, Timothy Alexander and Clifford Hoelz (TSA pat-down photo)
--Care2.com Inc. (TSA pat-down photo)
--Torq Cisek (TSA pat-down photo)
--Radio One Inc., Interactive One LLC and Sean Anthony (TSA pat-down photo)
A suit against Wayne Bellinger over a Review-Journal story was dismissed after Righthaven didn’t show he was served. Righthaven earlier dropped the same suit against codefendant Roman Sohor after finding Sohor had been improperly named as a defendant.
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Separately, an attorney for pat-down photo defendant Neil Rosekrans filed a motion for dismissal, saying Rosekrans found the photo on Google Images for use on his site StateBrief.com in Arizona.
"He looked for copyright notification on the one he used and found none. There were no copyright notices associated with the photograph selected," said the filing by attorney Andrew Contiguglia in Denver.
"The utilized photo contained no watermarks, copyright identification, or any other identifying marks that could possibly tie the image to Denver, Colo., Righthaven, the Denver Post or (Post owner) Media News Group Inc. To Mr. Rosekrans’ knowledge, the image had no connection with Colorado or Denver as it was not derived from a news site, a commercial site or the Denver Post," the filing said.
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Also, Righthaven last week filed papers saying it shouldn’t have to pay attorney’s fees in the case of disabled North Carolina blogger Brian D. Hill, a suit Righthaven voluntarily dismissed.
Righthaven said in court papers that once it became aware of Hill’s medical situation, it sought to resolve the case for $1 and "the defendant’s agreement not to continue to disseminate untruthful statements" about Righthaven.
Righthaven said settlement efforts were stymied by attorneys for Hill, whom Righthaven says presented an "apparent endless stream of issues."
Hill’s attorneys have not yet responded to these assertions. Hill has said that even after learning of his medical condition, Righthaven demanded he pay $6,000 to settle the lawsuit.
And Hill’s attorneys have said Hill found the photo during an Internet search on a site other than the Denver Post’s, and that Hill had no idea the photo came from Denver or was even subject to copyright protection.
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Also, a Las Vegas woman sued by Righthaven last week is firing back and criticizing the company.
Holly L. Brewer was accused by Righthaven of posting without authorization a Review-Journal story on the hobby website tvclubhouse.com.
The story was about a “Survivor” reality show contestant introducing a new casino game at the Golden Nugget hotel-casino in Las Vegas.
Records show this post linked to the Review-Journal, but only by looking hard at the post on tvclubhouse.com could someone determine this was a story from the Review-Journal.
"I think they are barking up the wrong tree," Brewer told the Las Vegas Sun and its sister newspaper VEGAS INC. "If Judge (James) Mahan continues to hear these cases, this is another issue of fair use."
"I linked back to the original source -- and the R-J always has options to share articles via other social media sites that do have advertising such as Facebook -- with no indication that there was any other author other than the original reporter and the R-J," Brewer said.
"There is no advertising or financial gain on that social website so there is no financial damages they can claim," she said.
"I totally recognize this is a nonsense troll lawsuit where they expect the defendants would rather just settle than fight. I hate the idea this is going to cost me time. But even worse I hate trolls like this and hope to see them get trounced and lose money from filing these papers," she said. "I hope there can be even more publicity so other victims won't roll over and pay these creeps."