Security → Copyright Trolling Media's Latest Answer to Money Woes

From: Wired Threat Level

Steve Gibson has a plan to save the media world’s financial crisis — and it’s not the iPad.

Borrowing a page from patent trolls, the CEO of fledgling Las Vegas-based Righthaven has begun buying out the copyrights to newspaper content for the sole purpose of suing blogs and websites that re-post those articles without permission. And he says he’s making money.

“We believe it’s the best solution out there,” Gibson says. “Media companies’ assets are very much their copyrights. These companies need to understand and appreciate that those assets have value more than merely the present advertising revenues.”

Gibson’s vision is to monetize news content on the backend, by scouring the internet for infringing copies of his client’s articles, then suing and relying on the harsh penalties in the Copyright Act — up to $150,000 for a single infringement — to compel quick settlements. Since Righthaven’s formation in March, the company has filed at least 80 federal lawsuits against website operators and individual bloggers who’ve re-posted articles from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, his first client.

Now he’s talking expansion. The Review-Journal’s publisher, Stephens Media in Las Vegas, runs over 70 other newspapers in nine states, and Gibson says he already has an agreement to expand his practice to cover those properties. (Stephens Media declined comment, and referred inquiries to Gibson.) Hundreds of lawsuits, he says, are already in the works by year’s end. “We perceive there to be millions, if not billions, of infringements out there,” he says.

More at: Link

Well, he's a scumbag and no mistake.

But I have to be amused at the slap-in-the-face it could give to the freetards who simultaneously decry print media as being over, and then steal content from same.

For your sake, siljaline, I hope Wired isn't one of his clients.

That would be the Condé Nast group of companies, I think they have their own troupe of lawyers and likely don't need outside help, but, you never know.

Too bad he shares the name of one of the Internet's good guys.

Too bad he's still breathing.

These guys are real hard-core patent Trolls, you may remember the little Toronto firm that won a jugdgment against MS -

»Microsoft protests $290m Word judgment

i4i is not, and was not, a patent Troll. All courts found that MS violated i4i's legitimate patents for their legitimate product. MS had attempted to steal their methods along with i4i's customer base and force i4i out of business. MS was wrong, violated laws, and was justifiably punished for their illegal acts.

While your reply is to the point, SUMware2 , i4i were viewed as patent trolls, in the day, they came clean by winning were they should have won.

I was not attempting to compare the two, I was simply using the i4i case as an example.

I understand. I was just clarifying that MS first learned of i4i when they tried to patent the same method themselves and subsequently discovered that i4i already held the patent, for work that i4i had created and was selling before MS had even thought about it. MS then made the decision not to obtain a use license from i4i but to destroy i4i instead. i4i was never legally considered to be a patent troll*. i4i only brought suit for self-protection after MS infringed with hostile directed intent to eliminate i4i.

* Patent troll is a pejorative term used for a person or company that enforces its patents against one or more alleged infringers in a manner considered unduly aggressive or opportunistic, often with no intention to manufacture or market the patented invention.

Looks like this has been ongoing from at least March:

LA Times - June 9, 2010

quote:

---

Righthaven was founded by an intellectual property attorney funded in part by a company connected to Stephens Media, which owns the Review-Journal.

Righthaven Chief Executive Steve Gibson, who declined to discuss how his firm is paid, said most of the targeted websites reused Review-Journal stories in their entirety or reproduced huge chunks, beyond what anyone could credibly argue as "fair use." Some of the sites, but not all, linked back to the R-J, as the paper is known.

---

-

MediaPost: Publisher Sued For Reposting Article Based On His Own Research - June 28, 2010

quote:

---

Copyright enforcement outfit Righthaven has filed some questionable lawsuits in the past, but really outdid itself in a case against Anthony Curtis, publisher of the Las Vegas Advisor.

That lawsuit, one of several filed on Friday, alleges that Curtis infringed copyright by reposting an article from the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Problem is, that article was itself based on an annual survey conducted by Curtis of ticket prices for entertainment shows.

Yes, Curtis went to the trouble of fielding a survey and then shared his findings with the newspaper, only to find himself sued for posting portions of the ensuing article on his own blog.

Just for added irony, the original Las Vegas Review-Journal piece about the survey described Curtis's annual undertaking as a "thankless task." "Once a year, Curtis delves into the thankless task of trying to pull an average ticket price," the April 22 article stated.

Now, Righthaven's overall strategy is problematic for many reasons: The company targets small publishers and bloggers who don't compete with the newspaper, or even monetize their sites with ads. Additionally, in some cases, the allegedly infringing posts hadn't received a single click before the lawsuit was filed.

---

-

Las Vegas Sun: 3 suits over alleged R-J copyright infringements bring total to 72 - July 16, 2010

quote:

---

Three more website operators were sued for copyright infringement Thursday after Las Vegas Review-Journal stories allegedly were posted on their sites without authorization, lifting the total of such lawsuit filings to at least 72 since March.

---

i4i is not a patent "troll", nor could they be considered so. They have patents on real products used by real customers, in this case, "custom XML"...

@Wikipedia:
"Patent troll is a pejorative term used for a person or company that enforces its patents .... with no intention to manufacture or market the patented invention."

@The Star: »www.thestar.com/article/680417

quote:

---

The suit included email exchanges from Microsoft engineers that suggested the company was aware of i4i's patent and its products, but was nevertheless working on a version of Word that would make them "obsolete."

---

»www.thestar.com/article/680417

I have said the gov will go after forums but also the media is cahoots with them cause its always about a price to pay to someone.

Notice the site who is a target AboveTopSecret.com and just so happens to be a place that exposed the gulf oil spill secrets way before MSM and that is thanks to the gathering information collectors and putting the right information together. All large forums of many should join forces and be a new collective as 4 chan may soon find out its not the stronghold they once thought and just a friendly heads up.

I have seen the future and if you think this is bad just wait for acta and the rest of our beloved government hammer coming to the internet.

Even Google's Youtube service restored the three strikes rule and no doubt you have seen the take down hit many others for whatever reason but you ask yourself is it really all connected.

Of course the law is made by the government and you pay in the end but even more powerful is the fact a lot of these business all have been intertwined in the military industrial complex as seen here »A hidden world, growing beyond control

The relationship between the users and the business world needs to be reawaken so stop posting their BS and do not buy the news papers and shut down the crappy TV and begin to do whats human and rewrite things how you see fit and then soon realize you have been the one in real control all along with your money and if they don't cool it you will opt out and crash the system of control. "Just remember that is happening now and the reason they want to play hardball"

Just stop your irrelevant drivel, will you?

The topic, since you seem to have trouble grasping the point, is not 'the government coming after us'. It is about someone using copyright law in a very aggressive manner.

Until you said this, I thought it was the Steve Gibson of grc.com fame. I am glad I finally clicked on the article to see the mug of the patent troll Steve Gibson.

Good point.

freerepublic.com
abovetopsecret.com

Anyone have a full list of pages that steve gibson has as a target like the above two pages?

Not sure I'm catching your drift, the Steve Gibson thing is wandering toward the OT, imo

As SUMware2 already said, more or less
»Re: Copyright Trolling Media's Latest Answer to Money Woes

.

Ehhhh .. Speak of the devil....... so to speak:

In my opinion, what can only be described as Mr. Gibson's and Righthaven's shakedown business model, primarily targeting discussion blogs and websites, now apparently hits on our own doorstep here:

Mr. Gibson via Righthaven LLC filed a copyright infringement suit against:

Broadbandreports.com / Dslreports.com

on 07/29/2010 »www.rfcexpress.com/lawsu ··· id=61844

As you are aware, Mr. Gibson and Righthaven scour the internet for any articles reposted from the the Las Vegas Review Journal. Gibson then purchases the retroactive copyrights for that article from the LVRJ, which is owned by Stephens Media, a co-partner in Righthaven. Gibson then files a copyright infringement lawsuit against the website owner seeking statutory damages of $75,000, (or, as in more recent cases $150,000), plus legal costs. In addition, Gibson wants ownership of the Domain of the alleged infringer transferred to Gibson / Righthaven.

said by onlygunsandmoney.blogspot.com :

---

.......There were many interesting comments to this article in Wired. One was from a former employee who said, "I used to work for this guy. In my opinion he is a legal opportunist and a sociopath. And also in my opinion all the comments prior to mine are accurate descriptions of his moral character, or lack thereof." Another comment was from an attorney which I found very interesting.

quote:
Steve Gibson, according to another Las Vegas attorney, has been “working on” developing Righthaven for years. Why? As I understand it from those who practice in intellectual property because there’s an automatic attorney’s fee provision in the copyright statutes. So, Steve Gibson has become a “douchebag” and a pariah and a bottom feeder and a stain on the profession, but he will also become very wealthy for doing very little. There’s lots of other professions that should be culled because their members take care of themselves and their pocket books at the expense of the greater community. For what it’s worth, I also understand from intellectual property attorneys in Las Vegas that Steve Gibson was a total “douchebag” well before he concocted Righthaven. So, if you want to stop these “nuisance” law suits (and that is truly what they are), and keep the likes of Steve Gibson from lining their wallets, petition your federal delegation to update the copyright statutes to: 1) mandate a “take down” letter before any lawsuit can be filed, with penalties attached to plaintiffs who file before doing so; and 2) delete the automatic entitlement to attorney’s fees. In the meantime, quit cutting and pasting and you will prevent Steve Gibson from earning additional money to get rid of that second chin. ................

---

Ref:»onlygunsandmoney.blogspo ··· and.html

Apparently there is now an add on for Firefox which will alert and block all websites owned by Stephens Media, in an effort to deny them visitor rankings.

The Las Vegas Sun keeps a running archive of Gibson's and Righthaven's escapades: »www.lasvegassun.com/sear ··· tby=date

MGD

It appears at least according to an article in today's Las Vegas Sun that justin and Broadbandreports.com Dslreports.com may have declined any of Mr. Gibson's and Righthaven's initial shakedown offers, and instead have chosen to contest and litigate the suit:Ref: »www.lasvegassun.com/news ··· cal-abu/

MGD

Which posting exactly are they suing for? My guess is that either Karl Bode or SUMware are responsible.

My guess is that this was posted as front-page news on DSLR at the time.

IMHO [IANAL], this was Title 17 'Fair Use'.

Gibson should be sanctioned for filing a malicious action.

is Karl a "third-party"?

That was my thought, though I may be in error.

Groklaw: How Many Words is Fair Use? Maybe More Than You and AP Thought: Let's Look at a Righthaven Case - September 22 2010

quote:

---

There is an interesting ruling [PDF] in a Righthaven copyright infringement case, one of its tidal wave of copyright infringement cases against bloggers in Nevada, Righthaven v. Klerks et al. Techrights highlights that the ruling indicates that the judge is willing to listen to the defendants' argument that there was an implied license. It's also a case asserting fair use. Anyone blogging would do well to read it, so I have it as text for you.

---