Righthaven hit with third fair use loss over R-J material

Source: Vegas Inc (Las Vegas Sun)

A Kentucky man did not infringe on a copyright when he posted an entire Las Vegas Review-Journal column on a message board without authorization, a federal judge ruled today.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Philip Pro in Las Vegas on fair use grounds is the third fair use loss for Righthaven LLC, which sues over Las Vegas Review-Journal and Denver Post material. Earlier losses over Review-Journal material involved entire and partial R-J stories.

Pro today dismissed a Righthaven lawsuit against Wayne Hoehn on grounds that Righthaven lacks standing to sue over Review-Journal material, as already determined by another federal judge in Las Vegas.

Perhaps just as significantly, Pro’s ruling found Hoehn’s post of the column on the madjacksports.com site was protected by fair use as Hoehn did not profit from the post, the column was largely informational as opposed to being creative and that Righthaven presented no evidence that Hoehn’s posting of the column harmed the market for the column.

Read more: http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2011/jun/20/righthaven-hit-third-fair-use-loss-over-r-j-materi/

Good for the bastids.

I knew from the subject that the story would be delicious but there were even a few cherries on top I didn't expect!

PB