Righthaven Told To Pay Up Legal Fees Owed By July 25th

from the that-was-quick dept

Just this morning we wrote about how the Randazza Legal Group was pushing to get its awarded legal fees paid up as soon as possible, and how Righthaven was trying to delay its payment. Apparently judge Gloria Navarro didn't waste much time in deciding this, filing the following short decision almost immediately telling Righthaven to pay up by July 25th:

Plaintiff's Application [56] for a temporary stay of thirty (30) days relating to the entry of the Judgment [53] entered in this case on July 5, 2011, is hereby GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. Plaintiff shall have until 5:00 p.m. on July 25, 2011 to pay Defendant's fees and costs. The hearing regarding Defendant's Motion for Preliminary Injunction [54] scheduled for July 26, 2011 at 1:00 p.m. shall be vacated upon the parties' written request, as long as a Receipt of Funds signed by Defendant or his counsel is attached to the written request to vacate said hearing. Signed by Judge Gloria M. Navarro on 07-12-2011

In other words, pay up by the 25th and stop mucking around.

Filed Under: legal fees
Companies: randazza legal group, righthave

Righthaven Goes After Pajamas Media, Despite DMCA Agent & Strong Fair Use Case

from the thought-righthaven-was-avoiding-those-things dept

It's been a little while since we covered what newspaper copyright troll Righthaven was up to, but Eric Goldman alerts us to one recent legal filing from the operation that raises some questions. Historically, Righthaven has been careful to avoid websites that have registered a DMCA agent, knowing that under the DMCA it's supposed to issue a takedown notice before suing. However, this case, in going after the successful blog network Pajamas Media, appears to ignore the fact that Pajamas Media has registered.

Of course, one argument to get around this is the claim that the post is written by an "employee," rather than a user, but even so, Righthaven is probably skating on pretty thin ice here. Under the DMCA there's a clear process to remove infringing works, and Righthaven has apparently failed to follow that process.

Separately, after getting smacked around in some early cases, Righthaven had promised to avoid filing its lawsuits over cases that pretty clearly appeared to be fair use. In this case, the complaint is about a photo concerning TSA patdowns that originally appeared in the Denver Post, which was later posted as a part of a story to Pajamas Media. But, there's a really strong fair use claim here. If you look at the original post -- now sans photograph, you see that the post itself includes significant commentary about the image. This isn't a case of someone just grabbing a photo to illustrate a story. Instead, the opening paragraphs -- which clearly identify and link to the Denver Post as the source of the image -- are about how this image has "become the symbol" of the "Don't touch my junk" movement. It would seem that this gives Pajamas a really strong fair use claim, since the image was being used within a news report for commentary on the iconic nature of the image. Newspapers and other media have long used similar situations to claim fair use over imagery.

If Pajamas Media actually fights this, it seems like Righthaven may be in line for another fair use smack down.

Filed Under: copyright, dmca, fair use
Companies: pajamas media, righthave