Add right-wing Senate candidate Sharron Angle of Nevada to the roster of defendants
sued by
Righthaven for allegedly infringing copyright by re-posting pieces from the
Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Late last week, the Tea Party candidate was was hit with a $150,000 lawsuit for
allegedly posting two pieces from the Review-Journal on sharronangle.com. With this latest action, Righthaven has now filed nearly 120 copyright infringement lawsuits against Web publishers,
ranging from non-profits like NORML (National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws) to political groups like the Democratic Party of Nevada, to a gambling site, to an unemployed Massachusetts
resident who runs a blog about cats.
In every known case, the company has sued without first asking the Web sites to remove the material. While content owners generally aren't obligated to
send cease-and-desists before suing, most owners of news stories don't just run into court without first trying to resolve disputes with readers informally.
But Righthaven, and its backer,
Las Vegas Review-Journal publisher Sherman Frederick, obviously aren't most content owners. Righthaven appears to have launched in March with the sole mission of trolling the Web for
copyright violations and then attempting to wring a few thousand dollars out of the alleged offenders. The company often sues for $75,000 and then offers $7,500 to settle, according to the Las
Vegas Sun. Many cases have settled so far but only two have done so publicly, for amounts ranging from $2,000-$5,000.
Last week, Frederick argued in a blog post that infringement is rampant online and that the lawsuits are
necessary to protect newspapers' revenue -- though he has yet to offer any evidence showing that newspapers have lost revenue due to the alleged piracy.
Meanwhile, as Richard Esguerra at
the Electronic Frontier Foundation points out, Righthaven's lawsuits could have the effect of curbing online
discussions about political issues and news. "Righthaven is taking aim at folks who are using elementary 'copy & paste' functionalities," he writes. "Online discussion survives and thrives on showing
others the original text before adding a commentary or response."