The DMCA vs. Political Speech >>
<< French ISP 'Free' Refusing To Send Out...
 tdicon 


Copyright

by Mike Masnick

Thu, Oct 7th 2010 9:30am




Filed Under:
copyright, endorsements, las vegas review journal, sharron angle, stealing

Companies:
righthaven, stephens media


Las Vegas Review-Journal Endorses The Same Candidate It's Suing For 'Stealing' From Them?

from the cognitive-dissonance... dept

At the end of yet another good report by the Las Vegas Sun on a defendant in a Righthaven case fighting back (thanks to visual77 for sending this in), there's an interesting pointer to a blog post from Steve Friess, a Vegas-based writer (who has previously come out in support of Righthaven's lawsuits) noting that it appears that the Las Vegas Review-Journal really doesn't take copyright issues as seriously as it pretends in its sermons on the subject. After all, it keeps claiming that copyright infringement is no different than "stealing," and yet, Freiss notes, the LVRJ has now endorsed Sharron Angle for Senate, the same candidate that it (via Righthaven) has sued for copyright infringement:

Congrats, R-J, for proving just how seriously you take copyright theft. Copyrighting is so important that, as your top lawyer Mark Hinueber told a Society of Professional Journalists gathering, it is nearly fundamental to the very foundation of the American way of life. But, on the other hand, someone who steals from you? She ought to be a United States senator! Cognitive dissonance much?
Of course, everyone knows the reality here. The LVRJ and Righthaven are not about protecting the sanctity of copyright, or "stopping theft." It's a pure business model effort, an attempt to shakedown people for money, for sharing their content in a way that does absolutely no harm to the original work or the business of the paper. But, still, it's good to see even Righthaven supporters calling out the hypocrisy of the LVRJ claiming that it's akin to stealing on the one hand, while endorsing one of the people they sued for a position in the Senate at the same time. You don't endorse the person who stole from you for Senate. And that's the point. Angle didn't "steal" anything -- and everyone at Righthaven and the LVRJ know it.

Separately, as for the original Sun article highlighting another defense effort against Righthaven, two quick points. This is the first defense I've seen that calls out the judge's ruling in the Tenenbaum case, in which the judge called the statutory rates "constitutionally excessive," and a violation of due process. This defendant is claiming that the demands brought forth by Righthaven violate due process rights based on this. I have to say that's quite a stretch of a legal argument (and an awful lot of people fully expect that ruling in the Tenenbaum case to be overturned), but still interesting. The second point is that while a lot of the defenses against Righthaven suits seem to toss up new arguments, it appears they're starting to all focus in on a few key arguments. It will be interesting to see how the courts respond to these.

11 Comments | Leave a Comment..


If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...
 


 

Reader Comments (rss)

(Flattened / Threaded)

  1.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Oct 7th, 2010 @ 11:03am

    "...absolutely no harm to the original work or the business of the paper..."

    Perhaps this is true. Then again, perhaps it is not.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  

    Re:

    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Oct 7th, 2010 @ 11:14am

    God bless the United States of America, where our Government thoughtfully creates laws to protect us from the "possible, yet also maybe not possible" harms of the world.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Oct 7th, 2010 @ 11:41am

    An unqualified statement of fact concerning a specific situation without even knowing the specific facts is not a wise habit to be encouraged.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  

    Re:

    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Oct 7th, 2010 @ 11:47am

    Hence why you are a master of noncommittal vagueness. Do you have classes?

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  5.  

    Re:

    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Oct 7th, 2010 @ 12:39pm

    Feel free to point out any harm. Oh, right, you can't.

    Now go crawl back to the law firm who you apparently think would be embarrassed if they discovered your silliness.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  6.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Oct 7th, 2010 @ 1:18pm

    My apology to those who are not troubled by the absence of facts....

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  7.  

    Re:

    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Oct 7th, 2010 @ 2:17pm

    Amusingly, you haven't provided a single fact that is missing. Unsurprising, of course, given your track record of contributing nothing.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  8.  

    Re: Re:

    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Oct 7th, 2010 @ 4:01pm

    Nice attempt at trying to turn the table around. A statement was made without any factual support. I did not realize that one asking for facts is guilty of not providing facts.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  9.  

    Re: Re: Re:

    identicon
    Any Mouse, Oct 7th, 2010 @ 5:34pm

    First, how many who have fought Righthaven have won their cases? Secondly, you're the one who made the first comment regarding 'true or perhaps not,' and ambiguous statement meant to confuse, you did not ask for proof of fact. You were asked for proof of your own statement, thus, logically, you are the one turning things about. Not that it matters, of course.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  10.  
    icon
    whytewolf (profile), Oct 7th, 2010 @ 10:27pm

    'And that's the point. Angle didn't "steal" anything - and everyone at Righthaven and the LVRJ know it.' honestly. with the RJ, they don't know it. they don't even get the basis of it. they are supporting Sharon Angle purely because she is republican. tho some people at LVRJ or at least Stephens media do know it. not everyone who works for them agrees with any of the policies they are putting forth. just like any company. I'm sure there are people who do the job because they need a job, not because they agree.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  11.  

    Shakedown

    identicon
    David, Oct 8th, 2010 @ 12:15pm

    I hate to pick nits, but the current fad of, er, verbifying nouns is driving me crazy. There's a great example in this post: "...an attempt to shakedown people for money,..." Mike, I always enjoy and respect your posts (even when I don't agree!), but "shakedown" is a noun, sometimes even an adjective, but never a verb!

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


Add Your Comment

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here
Get Techdirt’s Daily Email
Save me a cookie
  • Note: A CRLF will be replaced by a break tag (<br>), all other allowable HTML will remain intact
  • Allowed HTML Tags: <b> <i> <a> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <hr> <tt>

The DMCA vs. Political Speech >>
<< French ISP 'Free' Refusing To Send Out...
 tdicon 

A word from our Sponsors...
Follow Techdirt
Flattr rss rss
Essential Reading

Hot Topics

New To Techdirt?

Explore some core concepts:

read all »

A word from our Sponsors...

Close

Email This