Website Settles Infringement Case After Judge Rules for Copyright Troll
A copyright troll’s business methods got a boost Tuesday from a Las Vegas federal judge who ruled the company had standing to sue for copyright infringement.
U.S. District Judge Philip Pro ruled on behalf of Righthaven, a Las Vegas lawyer-owned start-up that trolls the Internet for websites that infringe copyrights of stories published in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Las Vegas Sun reports. The company then buys the story copyrights and sues for infringement. So far, it has filed 107 lawsuits.
Pro ruled Righthaven had standing even though it didn’t own the copyright at the time of the alleged infringement. After the hearing, the defendant, Tuff-N-Uff Productions Inc., reached a confidential settlement, the story says. Righthaven had sought $75,000 and forfeiture of the website names. Tuff-N-Uff revealed in a court filing that it had previously offered to “cease and desist, profusely apologize and even pay $500.”
Prior coverage:
ABA Journal.com: “ ‘Attack Dog’ Group Buys Newspaper Copyrights, Sues 86 Websites”
