Defunct copyright troll Righthaven seeks resurrection
Copyright troll Righthaven, which famously went defunct last year after an epic failure in trying to make money for newspapers by suing sites that reposted even parts of news stories, is seeking a second life.
Righthaven’s former chief executive wants a judge to resurrect the firm in order to appeal a court decision that found it was not infringement for an individual, who had no profit motive, to repost an entire story online.
The copyright dispute is one of great importance in today’s digital world: whether reposting an entire article, without permission, can amount to fair use of that work. A Nevada federal judge ruled last year that a citizen’s reposting of the story in an online forum was fair use in a decision that, in part, led to the unraveling of the Las Vegas-based trolling operation. Righthaven was ordered to pay legal fees and expenses in the case that amounted to more than $60,000, which the firm has refused to pay.
