986forum.com Sued by Righthaven - The Story - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

rkwei · 03-03-2011, 03:42 AM

986forum.com and myself was sued by Righthaven for copyright infringement. The suit was for $150,000 and surrender of the website domain.

Background:
In October, a forum member, cut and pasted a story from the Las Vegas Review Journal (****************) regarding Harry Reid. While we try to be vigilant about this, neither Brucelee or I caught it; after all in this day and age aren't we protected by Fair Use standards and wouldn't an offended party just ask us to take down the article....NO!

**************** sanctioned a company Righthaven - to assume the copyrights to their articles. Righthaven pays for the copyrights and then seeks out websites, forums, blogs and their owners who may have used those stories without permission and sues them. To date over 150 companies have been sued by Righthaven, some more notable like Matt Drudge and NORML, but most others are small like us.

After much research I discovered Righthaven is exploiting a loophole in the Federal law re: DMCA; specifically regarding asking nicely to take down an offending article. If you are not a registered DMCA agent (register your website with the government) then they can sue you. Needless to say - better late than never - I am now the registered agent for the forum.

In November - I received notice of the lawsuit. I retained legal services and was willing to fight but a change in circumstances forced me to seek settlement. The suit is now wrapping up but as a result it has wiped out the forum bank account and hurt me on a personal financial level.

Note: To those that have wondered - this is why links are turned off - to prevent further mishaps despite the protections that are in place.

Let's grow this website some more!
Sincerely,
RKwei

Brucelee · 03-03-2011, 04:05 AM

Thanks for the update Richard. I owe you some money!

Jaxonalden · 03-03-2011, 04:40 AM

Sorry to hear you were targeted by these blood suckers. The Westboro Baptist Church (their ones that protest soldiers funerals) basically does the same thing. They hope that someone will assault them during their protests and then sue the town for not protecting them. In all, it's a pretty sleazy way to make a living.

jcb986 · 03-03-2011, 05:25 AM

Creeps lurk everywhere... :ah:

Johnny Danger · 03-03-2011, 05:46 AM

Just say the word ... and I'll put a contract out on them !

ddb · 03-03-2011, 05:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkwei

The suit is now wrapping up but as a result it has wiped out the forum bank account and hurt me on a personal financial level.

rkwei,

Can you set up an easy way for me (and other forum members hopefully) to make a contribution? I'm more than willing to do so. As long as measures have been taken to prevent this from happening again, there is no reason for you to suffer personal losses. We all love this site and want it to stay around and healthy.

Thanks,

ddb

AndyA6 · 03-03-2011, 05:50 AM

Unreal!
One of the things that need fixin' in this country!

SeaNile31 · 03-03-2011, 06:06 AM

I'm pretty sure I heard of this happening to another site as well.

ChrisZang · 03-03-2011, 07:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ddb

rkwei,

Can you set up an easy way for me (and other forum members hopefully) to make a contribution? I'm more than willing to do so. As long as measures have been taken to prevent this from happening again, there is no reason for you to suffer personal losses. We all love this site and want it to stay around and healthy.

Thanks,

ddb

+1 (or actually +$50) on that
set up a PayPal account: If you build it the $ will come ...

JAAY · 03-03-2011, 07:48 AM

I will contribute.

sasha055 · 03-03-2011, 08:46 AM

I'm more then happy to contribute as well!
This forum (and it's members) is endless well of Boxster knowledge and it has the nicest people you would see on a forum!

Thanks
Sasha

Topless · 03-03-2011, 08:52 AM

Sorry about your troubles, I understand your aggravation. My business was the target of a shakedown lawsuit along with hundreds of others in Calif. by a few lawsuit mills exploiting a similar loophole in California law. The lawsuit mills were eventually closed down and the loophole was eliminated but not before I shelled out $20K in defense costs.

A defense fund from forum members is a good idea, a long term court challenge and solution to the problem is even better. More on Righthaven:
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/sep/05/defendant-accuses-righthaven-misusing-legal-system/

Here is some info on how it was resolved in Calif. if you find it useful:
http://www.calchamber.com/headlines/publicaffairspolitics/pages/shakedownlawsuitvictimsspeakoutinsupportofproposit ion64.aspx

insite · 03-03-2011, 09:43 AM

put up a donation link. a lot of us find this place useful & would be happy to support our online 'home'.

AndyA6 · 03-03-2011, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by insite

put up a donation link. a lot of us find this place useful & would be happy to support our online 'home'.

^^^^^^

Same here, although this is a sad thing to do and just feeds the "bad" guys......

schnellman · 03-03-2011, 10:41 AM

Give us a chance to say thanks. Set up a Paypal account and we'll be there.

coreseller · 03-03-2011, 11:18 AM

Lord knows I've started a few topics in the lounge, count me in as a contributor....

rkwei · 03-03-2011, 11:28 AM

I appreciate the offers of support.

The forum Paypal address is: 986forum1@comcast.net

Thanks,
RKwei

AndyA6 · 03-03-2011, 11:54 AM

Sent my contribution!

I'd be interested how much you'll receive over time.

Later,
Andy

schnellman · 03-03-2011, 11:56 AM

I sent my contribution -- and paid the Paypal fee. If everyone sends a small contribution there should be enough cash to pay the bills and maybe even up the server space!!
Thanks for everything, guys.

ChrisZang · 03-03-2011, 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkwei

I appreciate the offers of support.

The forum Paypal address is: 986forum1@comcast.net

Thanks,
RKwei

payment sent