He was startled to find that copying ONE newspaper article meant that Righthaven was expecting from the four figure to mid five figure range for a settlement. He tried to explain that at best, he might have something in the two figure area. (Like a lot of the bloggers that Righthaven is going against, this is a person who has NOTHING.) Now this poor guy has, like some others that I have talked to, decided to allow default judgment of $75,000 and go bankrupt.
This is highly unethical, even if true copyright infringement had taken place, because the amounts sought here are way out of proportion to the actual damages. Even if a suit has no merit, it takes serious money just to get it dismissed.
I just sent this simple email to “America’s Champion of Liberty”, LVR-J columnist Vin Suprynowicz:
“Mr. Suprynowicz,
I’d like to get your take on what I perceive to be an organized shakedown of bloggers by your employer (LVR-J) via Righthaven LLC.
Thanks”
I’m not expecting a response.
It costs money to declare bankruptcy and it’s not a two-digit amount.
It may cost money to declare bankruptcy, but if Righthaven isn’t willing to settle for what the poor guy offers, what other choice does he have, really? Settle for a bigger amount?
If the bigger amount is unjust, I’d personally choose to eat it as “bankruptcy” rather than send it to the likes of Righthaven!
Be interesting to cross-ref their victims’ political leanings and/or the sources of the articles supposedly copied without permission. Backdoor Fairness Doctrine?
A recent Righthaven victim is retired first responder Christopher Malley who runs EMTCity.com, a Las Vegas forum board for emergency medical responders.
http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/casual-blogger-hit-with-lawsuit
The number of unjust Righthaven victims just keeps growing.
Good to have you on the blog, Righthavenvictims. Or perhaps not, considering what had to happen to get you here. But thanks for the updates. Let me know anything you find out like that. I want to keep these bottom feeders as the low of the low where they belong.