Controversial "copyright troll" Righthaven has had yet another setback in the courts, when U.S. District Judge James Mahan ruled that fair use provisions means non-profit Center for Intercultural Organizing (CIO) is protected from Righthaven's "for profit" lawsuit.
Rigthhaven sued CIO for copying a Las Vegas Review-Journal article, but once the matter went to court, Judge Mahan immediately felt that fair use was in play, main due to CIO's non-profit status.
Judge Mahan, who plans to dismiss the lawsuit, also said that was was missing was any warning of potential copyright infringement, with such warnings being prerequisites in other successful copyright trials. Righthaven does not issue warnings, or take-down notices, to alleged offenders, and instead, go straight to filing a lawsuit with the option of a pre-trial settlement fee that's usually in the thousands of dollars range.
This is the second time that a Righthaven lawsuit may potentially be dismissed on fair use grounds. Last year, a Las Vegas realtor also won on fair use grounds over the partial copying of an article.
Righthaven has indicated they will appeal the decision.
Do you agree with the judge's decision, that firms like Righthaven shouldn't be allowed to sue for not for profit copying? Post your opinion in this article's comments section, or in this forum thread:
http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=94668
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