DOCSLIB.ORG

No. 11-2620 United States Court of Appeals for The

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
No. 11-2620 United States Court of Appeals for The Case: 11-2620 Document: 18-2 Filed: 12/19/2011 Pages: 27 NO. 11-2620 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SEVENTH CIRCUIT BROWNMARK FILMS, LLC, PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT, V. COMEDY PARTNERS, MTV NETWORKS, PARAMOUNT PICTURES CORPORATION, SOUTH PARK DIGITAL STUDIOS, LLC, and VIACOM INTERNATIONAL INC., DEFENDANTS-APPELLEES. On Appeal From The United States District Court For The Eastern District of Wisconsin, Case No. 10-cv-1013 JPS Honorable J.P. Stadtmueller, District Judge BRIEF AMICUS CURIAE OF ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION IN SUPPORT OF APPELLEES AND AFFIRMANCE Julie P. Samuels (ARDC# 6287282) Corynne McSherry Michael Barclay ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION 454 Shotwell Street San Francisco, CA 94110 Telephone: (415) 436-9333 Facsimile: (415) 436-9993 [email protected] Attorneys for Amicus Curiae Case: 11-2620 Document: 18-2 Filed: 12/19/2011 Pages: 27 CIRCUIT RULE 26.1 DISCLOSURE STATEMENT Appellate Court No: 11-2620 Short Caption: Brownmark Films, LLC v. Comedy Partners, et al. To enable the judges to determine whether recusal is necessary or appropriate, an attorney for a non-governmental party or amicus curiae, or a private attorney representing a government party, must furnish a disclosure statement providing the following information in compliance with Circuit Rule 26.1 and Fed. R. App. P. 26.1. The Court prefers that the disclosure statement be filed immediately following docketing; but, the disclosure statement must be filed within 21 days of docketing or upon the filing of a motion, response, petition, or answer in this court, whichever occurs first. Attorneys are required to file an amended statement to reflect any material changes in the required information. The text of the statement must also be included in front of the table of contents of the party's main brief. Counsel is required to complete the entire statement and to use N/A for any information that is not applicable if this form is used. [ ] PLEASE CHECK HERE IF ANY INFORMATION ON THIS FORM IS NEW OR REVISED AND INDICATE WHICH INFORMATION IS NEW OR REVISED. (1) The full name of every party that the attorney represents in the case (if the party is a corporation, you must provide the corporate disclosure information required by Fed. R. App. P 26.1 by completing item #3): Amicus Curiae Electronic Frontier Foundation (2) The names of all law firms whose partners or associates have appeared for the party in the case (including proceedings in the district court or before an administrative agency) or are expected to appear for the party in this court: Julie P. Samuels, Corynne McSherry and Michael Barclay (3) If the party or amicus is a corporation: i) Identify all its parent corporations, if any; and None ii) list any publicly held company that owns 10% or more of the party’s or amicus’ stock: None Attorney's Signature: /s/ Julie P. Samuels Date: December 19, 2011 Attorney's Printed Name: Julie P. Samuels Please indicate if you are Counsel of Record for the above listed parties pursuant to Circuit Rule 3(d). Yes X No Address: Electronic Frontier Foundation 454 Shotwell Street, San Francisco, California 94110 Phone Number: (415) 493-9333 ext. 112 Fax Number: (415) 436-9993 E-Mail Address: [email protected] rev. 01/08 AK i Case: 11-2620 Document: 18-2 Filed: 12/19/2011 Pages: 27 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TABLE OF AUTHORITIES .............................................................................. ii STATEMENT OF INTEREST ........................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT ................................. 2 ARGUMENT ...................................................................................................... 4 I. The Ability to Dismiss a Case on Fair Use Grounds Supports the Essential Copyright Balance ..................................................................... 4 A. Dismissing Obvious Fair Use Cases at the Pleading Stage Helps Deter Abuses of the Copyright System ............................................ 4 1. Righthaven LLC ...................................................................... 4 2. Mass Copyright Litigation ....................................................... 7 B. Early Dismissals Helps Protect Individual Fair Users Confronted With Frivolous Lawsuits and Improper DMCA Takedowns ......... 10 C. Early Dismissal Fosters Timely Political Speech ........................... 12 II. Fair Use is an Essential Part of the Copyright Balance ............................. 16 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................. 19 i Case: 11-2620 Document: 18-2 Filed: 12/19/2011 Pages: 27 TABLE OF AUTHORITIES Page(s) Cases Arizona Right to Life Political Action Comm. v. Bayless, 320 F.3d 1002 (9th Cir. 2003) .................................................................. 14 Assoc. of Am. Medical Colleges v. Cuomo, 928 F.2d 519 (2d Cir. 1991) ..................................................................... 18 Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569 (1994) ................................................................................. 17 CP Prods., Inc. v. Does 1-300, Case No. 1:10-cv-6255 (N.D. Ill.) ............................................................. 9 Feist Publ’ns, Inc. v. Rural Tel. Serv. Co., 499 U.S. 340 (1991) ................................................................................. 17 Fogerty v. Fantasy, Inc., 510 U.S. 517 (1994) ................................................................................. 16 K-Beech, Inc. v. John Does 1-85, Case No. 3:11-cv-469 (E.D. Va.) ............................................................... 9 On the Cheap, LLC v. Does 1-5011, Case No. 3:10-cv-04472 (N.D.Cal.) ..................................................... 9-10 Online Policy Group v. Diebold, Inc., 337 F. Supp. 2d 1195 (N.D. Cal. 2004) ................................................... 18 Penelope v. Brown, 792 F. Supp. 132 (D. Mass. 1992) ........................................................... 19 Righthaven LLC v. Democratic Underground, LLC, Case No. 2:10-cv-1356 (D. Nev.) .......................................................... 5, 6 Righthaven LLC v. Gardner, Case No. 1:11-cv-00777 (D. Colo.) ........................................................... 5 ii Case: 11-2620 Document: 18-2 Filed: 12/19/2011 Pages: 27 Righthaven LLC v. Hill, Case No. 1:11-cv-00211 (D. Colo.) ....................................................... 5, 6 Righthaven LLC v. Realty One Group, Inc., Case No. 2:10-cv-1036 (D. Nev.) .............................................................. 7 Savage v. Council on American-Islamic Relations, Case No. 3:07-cv-06076 (N.D. Cal.) ....................................................... 16 Shuttlesworth v. City of Birmingham, 394 U.S. 147 (1969) ................................................................................. 14 Sony Corp. v. Universal Music Studios, Inc., 464 U.S. 417 (1984) ................................................................................. 18 Stewart v. Abend, 495 U. S. 207 (1990) ................................................................................ 17 Twentieth Century Music Corp. v. Aiken, 422 U.S. 151 (1975) ................................................................................. 16 Statutes 17 U.S.C. § 106 .................................................................................................. 18 17 U.S.C. § 107 .............................................................................................. 2, 18 17 U.S.C. §§ 107-122 ......................................................................................... 16 17 U.S.C. § 512 ............................................................................................. 11-12 Other Authorities Center for Democracy & Technology, Campaign Takedown Troubles: How Meritless Copyright Claims Threaten Online Political Speech (Sept. 2010) ........................................................................................................ 14 Nate Anderson, Copyright troll Righthaven’s epic blunder: a lawsuit targeting Ars, Ars Technica (March 29, 2011) .......................................................... 6 Sarah Purewal, Copyright Trolls: 200,000 BitTorrent Users Sued Since 2010, PCWorld (August 9, 2011) ........................................................................ 8 iii Case: 11-2620 Document: 18-2 Filed: 12/19/2011 Pages: 27 Treatises 4 W. Patry, PATRY ON COPYRIGHT, Thomson Reuters/West (2011) .................. 17 P. Leval, Toward a Fair Use Standard, 103 HARV. L. REV. 1105 (1990) ......... 18 Constitutional Provision U.S. CONST., ART. I, § 8, cl. 8 ............................................................................ 17 iv Case: 11-2620 Document: 18-2 Filed: 12/19/2011 Pages: 27 STATEMENT OF INTEREST1 Amicus curiae submits this brief pursuant to FED. R. APP. P. 29(b). Defendants-Appellees Comedy Partners, et al. (“Comedy Partners” or “Appellees”) consent to the filing of the brief. Plaintiff-Appellant Brownmark Films, LLC (“Brownmark”) does not consent. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (“EFF”) is a nonprofit civil liberties organization that has worked for more than 20 years to protect consumer interests, innovation, and free expression in the digital world. EFF and its almost 15,000 dues-paying members have a strong interest in assisting the courts and policymakers in striking the appropriate balance between copyright law and the public interest. As part of its mission, EFF often represents individuals
Load more

Recommended publications
  • How Open Source Is Changing IP Risk in the Soft Ware Supply Chain
    A New Wave of IP Risks: How Open Source is Changing IP Risk in the Software Supply Chain Table of Contents Introduction . 3 Brief Overview of Open Source and Where It Stands Today . 3 The Interplay Between Open Source and IP Risk: . 5 Understanding the Challenges Specific IP Risks in the Open Source Software Supply Chain . 7 Copyright Infringement . 7 Reputation . 9 Exposing IP Secrets . 10 Impacts on the Partner/Customer Relationship . 11 Patent Infringement . 12 Looking Ahead: The Future of Open Source Litigation . 13 Conclusion . 14 I. Introduction Open source software has been integrated into nearly is a testament to the success of open source, it also gives every industry and sector today . According to a 2016 rise to unique challenges for businesses, particularly in survey, approximately 90% of today’s organizations report the area of intellectual property . If a company cannot using open source software .1 That percentage has almost even find all of its open source code or identify its open certainly grown since . One likely reason for open source’s source dependencies, they are also likely unable to boom in popularity is the distinct cost savings it gives ensure that they are remaining compliant with open companies who use it .2 The use of open source software is source licenses and protecting themselves from business now so widespread that many companies are unaware of or reputational risk . how and where it is used, and would be unable to identify all their open source code if asked to do so . In this paper, we will examine the most common IP risks that arise from the use of open source software today, As Mark Radcliffe, a partner in the Silicon Valley office of including copyright infringement, patent infringement, DLA Piper specializing in IP and open source, explains, reputational risk, exposure of IP secrets, and the impact on “virtually all software now has a large number of open the partner/customer relationship .
    [Show full text]
  • Volume 30 Spring 2014
    SYRACUSE JOURNAL OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY LAW VOLUME 30 SPRING 2014 TABLE OF CONTENTS Mass Copyright Infringement Litigation: Of Trolls, Pornography, Settlement and Joinder Christopher Civil………………………………………………………………………………...2 Notice and Manifestation of Assent to Browse-Wrap Agreements in the Age of Evolving Crawlers, Bots, Spiders and Scrapers: How Courts Are Tethered to Their Application of Register and Cairo and Why Congress Should Mandate Use of the Robots Exclusion Standard to Prevent Circumvention of Responsibility Michael Laven…………………………………………………………………………………..56 Seeing Red: Christian Louboutin’s Protection of His Trademark Through His Battle with Yves St. Laurent Sachpreet Bains…………………………………………………………………………………73 I Need a Lawyer: Establishing Statewide New York Communication Access Fund to Secure Legal Accessibility to Deaf and Hard of Hearing Clients Through Video Remote Interpreting Services in Compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act YooNa Lim………………………………………………………………………………………99 Can You Hear Me Now? Spectrum is Shaping the Telecommunication Industry in an Increasingly Connected America James Zino……………………………………………………………………………………..131 Review of “I Know What You’re Thinking: Brain Imaging and Mental Privacy” Edited by: Sarah Richmond, Geraint Rees, and Sarah J.L. Edwards Jenna Furman…………………………………………………………………………………160 SYRACUSE JOURNAL OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY LAW VOLUME 30 SPRING 2014 2013-2014 EDITORIAL STAFF EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Brittany Jones MANAGING EDITOR Tanjeev Thandi LEAD ARTICLE EDITORS FORM & ACCURACY EDITORS Alessandra
    [Show full text]
  • No. 11-16358 United States Court of Appeals for The
    Case: 11-16358 01/13/2012 ID: 8031869 DktEntry: 20 Page: 1 of 40 NO. 11-16358 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT RIGHTHAVEN LLC, APPELLANT, V. CENTER FOR INTERCULTURAL ORGANIZING, and KAYSE JAMA, APPELLEES. On Appeal From The United States District Court For The District of Nevada Case No. 2:10-cv-01322-JCM-LRL Honorable James C. Mahan, District Judge BRIEF AMICI CURIAE OF ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION, DIGITAL MEDIA LAW PROJECT, PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE AND PROFESSORS IN SUPPORT OF AFFIRMANCE Kurt Opsahl (SBN 191303) Corynne McSherry (SBN 221504) ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION 454 Shotwell Street San Francisco, CA 94110 Telephone: (415) 436-9333 Facsimile: (415) 436-9993 [email protected] Attorneys for Amici Curiae Case: 11-16358 01/13/2012 ID: 8031869 DktEntry: 20 Page: 2 of 40 DISCLOSURE OF CORPORATE AFFILIATIONS AND OTHER ENTITIES WITH A DIRECT FINANCIAL INTEREST IN LITIGATION Pursuant to Rule 26.1 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, Amici Curiae the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Digital Media Law Project, Public Knowledge, and the professor amici (collectively, “Amici”) state that none of the Amici have any parent corporation, and that no publicly held corporation owns 10% or more of the stock of any of the Amici. Dated: January 13, 2012 By: /s/ Kurt Opsahl Kurt Opsahl Corynne McSherry ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION 454 Shotwell Street San Francisco, CA 94110 Telephone: (415) 436-9333 Facsimile: (415) 436-9993 [email protected] Attorneys for Amici Curiae i Case: 11-16358 01/13/2012 ID: 8031869 DktEntry: 20 Page: 3 of 40 TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENTS OF INTEREST AND CONSENT TO FILE ................................
    [Show full text]
  • The New Frontier of Activism - a Study of the Conditioning Factors for the Role of Modern Day Activists
    The new frontier of activism - a study of the conditioning factors for the role of modern day activists Master’s Thesis Andreas Holbak Espersen | MSocSc Political Communication & Management Søren Walther Bjerregård | MSc International Business & Politics Supervisor Erik Caparros Højbjerg | Departmenent of Management, Politics and Philosophy Submitted 7th November 2016 | STUs: 251.792 Table of Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5 Chapter 0 - Research question and literature review ....................................................................................... 6 0.1 Preface ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 0.2 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................................... 8 0.2.1 Research area .................................................................................................................................................................... 9 0.3 Literature review ...................................................................................................................................................................... 11 0.3.1 Activism in International
    [Show full text]
  • Online Media and the 2016 US Presidential Election
    Partisanship, Propaganda, and Disinformation: Online Media and the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Faris, Robert M., Hal Roberts, Bruce Etling, Nikki Bourassa, Ethan Zuckerman, and Yochai Benkler. 2017. Partisanship, Propaganda, and Disinformation: Online Media and the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election. Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society Research Paper. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:33759251 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA AUGUST 2017 PARTISANSHIP, Robert Faris Hal Roberts PROPAGANDA, & Bruce Etling Nikki Bourassa DISINFORMATION Ethan Zuckerman Yochai Benkler Online Media & the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This paper is the result of months of effort and has only come to be as a result of the generous input of many people from the Berkman Klein Center and beyond. Jonas Kaiser and Paola Villarreal expanded our thinking around methods and interpretation. Brendan Roach provided excellent research assistance. Rebekah Heacock Jones helped get this research off the ground, and Justin Clark helped bring it home. We are grateful to Gretchen Weber, David Talbot, and Daniel Dennis Jones for their assistance in the production and publication of this study. This paper has also benefited from contributions of many outside the Berkman Klein community. The entire Media Cloud team at the Center for Civic Media at MIT’s Media Lab has been essential to this research.
    [Show full text]
  • Monetizing Infringement
    University of Colorado Law School Colorado Law Scholarly Commons Articles Colorado Law Faculty Scholarship 2020 Monetizing Infringement Kristelia García University of Colorado Law School Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/articles Part of the Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Commons, Intellectual Property Law Commons, Law and Economics Commons, and the Legislation Commons Citation Information Kristelia García, Monetizing Infringement, 54 U.C. DAVIS L. REV. 265 (2020), available at https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/articles/1308. Copyright Statement Copyright protected. Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S. Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce is required. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Colorado Law Faculty Scholarship at Colorado Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Articles by an authorized administrator of Colorado Law Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Monetizing Infringement Kristelia García* The deterrence of copyright infringement and the evils of piracy have long been an axiomatic focus of both legislators and scholars. The conventional view is that infringement must be curbed and/or punished in order for copyright to fulfill its purported goals of incentivizing creation and ensuring access to works. This Essay proves this view false by demonstrating that some rightsholders don’t merely tolerate, but actually encourage infringement, both explicitly and implicitly, in a variety of different situations and for one common reason: they benefit from it.
    [Show full text]
  • The (Unfinished) Ballad of Gunslinger/ ©Troll Richard Liebowitz by Steven D
    For exclusive use of MLRC members and other parties specifically authorized by MLRC. © 2019 Media Law Resource Center, Inc. Page 8 August 2019 MLRC MediaLawLetter The (Unfinished) Ballad of Gunslinger/ ©Troll Richard Liebowitz By Steven D. Zansberg You are probably already far more familiar than you wish you were with Richard Liebowitz, the notorious copyright plaintiff’s attorney based in Valley Stream, New York. Mr. Liebowitz has gained notoriety (some might say ignominy) for having filed over 1,500 copyright infringement actions across the nation (some 1,100 in S.D.N.Y.), and having been featured in Slate, The Hollywood Reporter, and even has his own Wikipedia page (do you?). For those fortunate few unfamiliar with Mr. Liebowitz, his entrepreneurial spirit follows a well-developed business model: (1) represent photographers who have registered (or soon will register) their original works (now a requirement for instituting copyright infringement actions, and for recovery of statutory damages of up to $150K/violation plus attorneys’ fees); (2) find infringing (non-licensed) uses of those photos online by using a reverse-image search engine like Google Images, Tin Eye, Pixsy, or Berify; (3) demand an exorbitant amount to settle such cases (typically $25K per photo, most of which would command license fees of, at best, in the tens or hundreds of dollars) and then agree to a settlement figure that is a fraction (often less than half) of the initial extortionate demand. You are probably already far more Because it inevitably would cost more than the insurance familiar than you wish you were deductible to defend such a case, the defendants – many of with Richard Liebowitz, the whom are large media companies – make the rational business notorious copyright plaintiff’s attorney.
    [Show full text]
  • Defense Against the Dark Arts of Copyright Trolling Matthew As G
    Loyola University Chicago, School of Law LAW eCommons Faculty Publications & Other Works 2018 Defense Against the Dark Arts of Copyright Trolling Matthew aS g Jake Haskell Follow this and additional works at: https://lawecommons.luc.edu/facpubs Part of the Civil Procedure Commons, and the Intellectual Property Law Commons Defense Against the Dark Arts of Copyright Trolling Matthew Sag &Jake Haskell * ABSTRACT: In this Article, we offer both a legal and a pragmaticframework for defending against copyright trolls. Lawsuits alleging online copyright infringement by John Doe defendants have accounted for roughly half of all copyright casesfiled in the United States over the past threeyears. In the typical case, the plaintiffs claims of infringement rely on a poorly substantiatedform pleading and are targeted indiscriminately at noninfringers as well as infringers. This practice is a subset of the broaderproblem of opportunistic litigation, but it persists due to certain unique features of copyright law and the technical complexity of Internet technology. The plaintiffs bringing these cases target hundreds or thousands of defendants nationwide and seek quick settlements pricedjust low enough that it is less expensive for the defendant to pay rather than to defend the claim, regardless of the claim's merits. We report new empirical data on the continued growth of this form of copyright trolling in the United States. We also undertake a detailed analysis of the legal andfactual underpinnings of these cases. Despite theirunderlying weakness, plaintiffs have exploited information asymmetries, the high cost of federal court litigation, and the extravagant threat of statutory damages for copyright infringement to leverage settlementsfrom the guilty and the innocent alike.
    [Show full text]
  • Frivolous And/Or Pursued in Bad Faith
    Case 2:10-cv-01356-RLH-RJJ Document 44 Filed 12/07/10 Page 1 of 38 1 LAURENCE F. PULGRAM (CA State Bar No. 115163) (pro hac vice) [email protected] 2 CLIFFORD C. WEBB (CA State Bar No. 260885) (pro hac vice pending) [email protected] 3 FENWICK & WEST LLP 555 California Street, 12th Floor 4 San Francisco, California 94104 Telephone: (415) 875-2300 5 Facsimile: (415) 281-1350 6 KURT OPSAHL (CA State Bar No. 191303) (pro hac vice) [email protected] 7 CORYNNE MCSHERRY (CA State Bar No. 221504) (pro hac vice) [email protected] 8 ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION 454 Shotwell Street 9 San Francisco, California 94110 Telephone: (415) 436-9333 10 Facsimile: (415) 436-9993 11 CHAD BOWERS (NV State Bar No. 7283) [email protected] 12 CHAD A. BOWERS, LTD 3202 West Charleston Boulevard 13 Las Vegas, Nevada 89102 Telephone: (702) 457-1001 14 Attorneys for Defendant and Counterclaimant DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND, LLC, and 15 Defendant DAVID ALLEN 16 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEVADA 17 RIGHTHAVEN LLC, a Nevada limited liability company, ) Case No. 2:10-cv-01356-RLH 18 Plaintiff, ) (RJJ) v. ) 19 ) ) CONSOLIDATED BRIEF DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND, LLC, a District of ) IN OPPOSITION TO 20 Columbia limited-liability company; and DAVID ALLEN, an individual, ) PLAINTIFF’S MOTION 21 ) FOR VOLUNTARY Defendants. ) DISMISSAL TO THE 22 ) EXTENT IT SEEKS TO DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND, LLC, a District of ) FORECLOSE AWARD OF 23 Columbia limited-liability company, ) ATTORNEYS’ FEES, AND ) IN SUPPORT OF CROSS- Counterclaimant, 24 ) MOTION FOR SUMMARY v. ) JUDGMENT 25 ) RIGHTHAVEN LLC, a Nevada limited liability company, ) 26 and STEPHENS MEDIA LLC, a Nevada limited-liability ) company, ) 27 ) Counterdefendants.
    [Show full text]
  • Free Speech Group Fights Lawsuits Vs. News Sharers 30 September 2010, by CRISTINA SILVA , Associated Press Writer
    Free speech group fights lawsuits vs. news sharers 30 September 2010, By CRISTINA SILVA , Associated Press Writer (AP) -- A San Francisco group that defends online "That's just ridiculous, and the reason it is ridiculous free speech is taking on a Las Vegas company it is that I don't think there has been any defendant says is shaking down news-sharing Internet users that we've called to shake them down for a through more than 140 copyright infringement settlement," he said. lawsuits filed this year. Dozens of the lawsuits have been settled privately, The Electronic Frontier Foundation's counterclaim and Righthaven and Stephens Media declined to represents the first significant challenge to disclose the terms. The EFF says the settlements Righthaven LLC's unprecedented campaign to have averaged about $5,000. police the sharing of news content on blogs, political sites and personal Web pages. Movie and music producers have previously targeted individuals who illegally share copyright At stake is what constitutes fair use - when and content. What makes Righthaven's business model how it is appropriate to share content in an age unique is that it buys copyrights from news where newsmakers increasingly encourage companies like Stephens Media and then readers to share stories on Facebook, Twitter, aggressively files lawsuits without first giving Digg and other social networking sites. defendants a chance to remove the content in question. The EFF argues that the lawsuits limit free speech and bully defendants into costly settlements by Allen Lichtenstein, a lawyer for the Nevada threatening $150,000 in damages and the transfer American Civil Liberties Union, said the lawsuits of domain names.
    [Show full text]
  • RIGHTHAVEN LLC, No
    FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT RIGHTHAVEN LLC, No. 11-16751 Plaintiff-Appellant, D.C. No. v. 2:11-cv-00050- PMP-RJJ WAYNE HOEHN, Defendant-Appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Nevada Philip M. Pro, District Judge, Presiding RIGHTHAVEN LLC, No. 11-16776 Plaintiff-Appellant, D.C. No. v. 2:10-cv-01343- RLH-PAL THOMAS A. DIBIASE, Defendant-Appellee. OPINION Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Nevada Roger L. Hunt, Senior District Judge, Presiding Argued and Submitted February 5, 2013—Pasadena, California 2 RIGHTHAVEN LLC V. HOEHN Filed May 9, 2013 Before: Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain, Stephen S. Trott, and Richard R. Clifton, Circuit Judges. Opinion by Judge Clifton SUMMARY* Copyright The panel affirmed the dismissal for lack of standing of two copyright infringement suits and vacated the portion of the district court’s order granting summary judgment on fair use in one of the suits. The panel held that agreements assigning plaintiff Righthaven LLC the bare right to sue for infringement of newspaper articles, without the transfer of any associated exclusive rights in the articles, did not confer standing to sue. The panel held that the district court therefore lacked jurisdiction to rule in the alternative on the fair use defense. * This summary constitutes no part of the opinion of the court. It has been prepared by court staff for the convenience of the reader. RIGHTHAVEN LLC V. HOEHN 3 COUNSEL Erik S. Syverson (argued), Miller Barondess, LLP, Los Angeles, California, and Shawn A.
    [Show full text]
  • Section 512 of Title 17 a Report of the Register of Copyrights May 2020 United States Copyright Office
    united states copyright office section 512 of title 17 a report of the register of copyrights may 2020 united states copyright office section 512 of title 17 a report of the register of copyrights may 2020 U.S. Copyright Office Section 512 Report ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The publication of this Report is the final output of several years of effort by the Copyright Office to assist Congress with evaluating ways to update the Copyright Act for the 21st century. The genesis of this Report occurred in the midst of the two years of copyright review hearings held by the House Judiciary Committee that spanned the 113th and 114th Congresses. At the twentieth and final hearing in April 2015, the Copyright Office proposed several policy studies to aid Congress in its further review of the Copyright Act. Two studies already underway at the time were completed after the hearings: Orphan Works and Mass Digitization (2015), which the Office later supplemented with a letter to Congress on the “Mass Digitization Pilot Program” (2017), and The Making Available Right in the United States (2016). Additional studies proposed during the final hearing that were subsequently issued by the Office included: the discussion document Section 108 of Title 17 (2017), Section 1201 of Title 17 (2017), and Authors, Attribution, and Integrity: Examining Moral Rights in the United States (2019). The Office also evaluated how the current copyright system works for visual artists, which resulted in the letter to Congress titled “Copyright and Visual Works: The Legal Landscape of Opportunities and Challenges” (2019). Shortly after the hearings ended, two Senators requested a review of the role of copyright law in everyday consumer products and the Office subsequently published a report, Software-Enabled Computer Products (2016).
    [Show full text]