The Righthaven copyright trolls have lost another ruling. US District Judge James Mahan found that the defendant’s use of the material satisfied the conditions for fair use, but then made a much more important observation:
Mahan also found Righthaven’s use of the copyright for a lawsuit gives the copyright less protection than if the Review-Journal were using it in the normal course of delivering the news.
“Here the copyright has been removed from its original context,” Mahan said.
“Righthaven is not using the copyright the same way the R-J used it. Righthaven is using it to support a lawsuit,” Mahan said.
This type of copyright use has a chilling effect on free speech and doesn’t advance a purpose of the federal Copyright Act, which is to encourage and protect creativity, Mahan said.
(Via Instapundit.) (Previous post.)
Internet Scofflaw 