986forum.com Sued by Righthaven - The Story

[tonycarreon]

happy to contribute.

peer pressure!

[Burg Boxster]

Richard-

So to hear about these f*cking low life bottom feeders having nothing better to do than come after you. Pathetic scum bags.

Forbes had an article on them not long ago and as soon as I saw it, I figured something of the sort happened here - just didn't think it was those exact low life losers. Once everything is settled, make sure you add yourself / the forum to all the sites out there tracking everyone being shaken down by them.

[Brucelee]

You guys are amazing. I love this site for many reasons but this thread has turned out to be my all time fav.

Richard K. is pretty much the best man I have ever met. The fact that you would help him (and me) out is very special indeed.

BL (Rich Belloff)

[Gilles]

a small contribution is nothing compared to the kind knowledgeable support from all the members.

[AndyA6]

Late night bump!

Keep it going!

[Adam]

Wow, what a crazy series of events. Sorry to hear about all this Richard. This Righthaven group seems like a sleazy company. Just the conspiracy theorist inside thinking aloud here but who is to say that the people cutting and pasting these articles on various forums aren't maybe somehow connected to Righthaven? Would be simply and easy enough I would think especially with the anonymity of the internet. They could do it from any public computer if need be and then you are held liable paying a settlement with the original poster just being a screen name with some bogus email address that can't be traced back. Something to think about. I've heard of crazier scams.

[CenterIsl]

Contribution sent - keep up the good work!

[rkwei]

To all,
Thanks again for the contributions. It is much appreciated.

As to Righthaven, I certainly don't like their business model but it appears to work. The settlement agreement precludes me from talking about the settlement process, amounts, etc., but I settled 1) to avoid really involved costs, 2) to also avoid secondary liability to Brucelee and 3) to avoid possible liability to the poster who is /has been a regular poster here.

No conspiracy theory necessary- most folks think that in this day and age they are protected when in fact they are not. Righthaven does appear to honor instances where there is a registered DMCA agent and does not sue those website owners - hence the importance of becoming a registered agent.

Was it a defensible case? Yes - a very good one, probably all the way up to the 9th Circuit Court - because this would have been the first case involving a forum and the poster being a forum member versus the poster being the website/blog owner. Start adding up the costs though...

As to public record - there are several websites for aggrieved "Righthaven victims". One of them lists the Righthaven suits by month - you can see 986forum.com and myself listed under October/November 2010. There are also public court documents out there with 986forum in them.

RKwei