Infamous copyright trolls Righthaven LLC, after losing a case in US District Court, didn’t stay lurking under their troll bridge for long before they went after the forum of online gambling affiliate, TheRX.com. Everyone knows that Righthaven functions as a parasite of sorts, so it’s rather refreshing to hear that MediaNews chief John Paton wasn’t about to allow the company’s relationship with the “trolls using the US legal system as their personal extortion racket,” to continue.
MediaNews chief John Paton told Wired that the publisher’s year-long copyright infringement litigation deal with Righthaven is coming to a close at the end of the month and he doesn’t intend to renew it.
MediaNews publishes the Denver Post and 50 other newspapers, and is Righthaven’s only client apart from Las Vegas based Stephens Media.
Paton’s comments about the terminated relationship were a breath of fresh air.
“The issues about copyright are real…But the idea that you would hire someone on an—essentially—success fee to run around and sue people at will whomay or may not have infringed as a way of protecting yourself …does not reflect how news is created and disseminated in the modernworld.” – Adweek
Paton added, “I come from the idea that it was a dumb idea from the start.” There are judges sick and tired of shooting down frivolous lawsuits Righthaven has filed that would wholly agree.
