Las Vegas copyright enforcement company Righthaven LLC on Wednesday filed its second copyright infringement lawsuit over Denver Post material, this time suing a big target: Drudge Report operator Matt Drudge.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for Nevada, charges a Nov. 18 Denver Post “illustration” called “Transportation Security Administration agents perform enhanced pat-downs” was posted without authorization the same day on the Drudge Report website as well as the drudgereportarchives.com site.

A court exhibit, however, indicates the illustration is actually a Denver Post photograph of a TSA officer patting down a passenger at Denver International Airport. Righthaven usually sues over unauthorized online postings of news stories, columns and editorials. Lately it has sued over alleged infringements involving graphics and, now, a photograph.

“Mr. Drudge has willfully engaged in the copyright infringement of the work,” Wednesday’s lawsuit charges.

A message for comment was left with Drudge, who was sued personally, as well as codefendant drudgereportarchives.com.

Righthaven since March has now filed at least 181 copyright infringement lawsuits against website operators and bloggers. It usually sues over Las Vegas Review-Journal material. An affiliate of Stephens Media LLC, owner of the Review-Journal, is an investor in Righthaven. Last week, Righthaven started suing over Denver Post material.

Righthaven finds online infringements, obtains copyrights to the infringed material and then sues the alleged infringers on a retroactive basis. Righthaven and Stephens Media have said the lawsuits are necessary to protect the newspaper industry’s copyrights, but critics call the no-warning lawsuits frivolous and part of a settlement shakedown campaign.

A court exhibit indicates Righthaven on Wednesday applied with the U.S. Copyright Office to register its rights in the Denver Post photograph of the TSA pat-down and that it obtained rights to the photo from Denver Post owner Media News Group Inc., which also spells its name MediaNews Group.

As for the drudgereportarchives.com site, it says: “Matt Drudge does not own, operate or maintain this archive site. He is not responsible for it in any way.”

And Righthaven says in its lawsuit “DrudgeReportArchives is, and has been at all times relevant to this lawsuit, an entity of unknown origin and nature.”

Nevertheless, Righthaven charged in the lawsuit: “At all times relevant to this lawsuit, Mr. Drudge has been and is a direct financial beneficiary of the Drudge Archives website.”

“DrudgeReportArchives has displayed and/or archived, and continues to display and/or archive … all of the electronic content and embedded hyperlinks originally posted and/or displayed by Mr. Drudge on the Drudge Report website,” Righthaven’s suit charges. “At all times relevant to this lawsuit, Mr. Drudge has permitted and permits the electronic content (including … all embedded hyperlinks and interactive features) ultimately posted and/or displayed on the Drudge Archives website.”

As in most of its recent lawsuits, Righthaven seeks in Wednesday’s lawsuit damages of $150,000 as well as forfeiture to Righthaven of the drudgereport.com and drudgereportarchives.com website domain

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Not done fighting on DADT

12/10/2010 Nativegrl77

This afternoon, a discriminatory policy that deprives our military of qualified troops, endangers our national security, and violates the simple American principles of integrity, fairness, and equality was allowed to remain law.

Every Republican senator but one — Senator Susan Collins — voted to prevent the passage of legislation to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Several of them had previously claimed to support repeal, but voted “no” today.

It’s a frustrating setback, but here’s the good news: We are just three votes away from moving forward on repeal.

And Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and our allies in the Senate are promising another vote on repeal before Congress heads home for the year. There is still a chance for this to pass.

Allies in the Senate are not done fighting. The President is not done fighting. And I know you’re not, either.

Write the Republicans standing in the way in the Senate — and tell them to get on the right side of history.

There’s no question that today’s vote was disappointing.

But we also have a lot of reasons to be proud today.

The letters to the editor you wrote and the phone calls you made — and the 582,000 petitions you signed — have been crucial in building support for repeal.

This morning, OFA volunteers delivered those petitions to Senator Collins’ office. And this afternoon, she voted to move this bill forward.

Now your work can help make sure we secure the votes necessary to finally put an end to this unfair policy.

One final push might be all it takes.

I know we still have a lot of fight left in us. Write Republicans now — and tell them to stop standing in the way:

http://my.barackobama.com/DADTRepealLetters

Thanks,

Mitch

Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America

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One step away from the DREAM Act

12/10/2010 Nativegrl77

Share This Message:

The House passed the DREAM Act

Now we have a fight in the Senate.

Last night, the House of Representatives voted to pass the DREAM Act. It was a big victory, but now we keep up the fight to get it passed in the Senate^[1].

The DREAM Act is just one step away from becoming a reality, but we must keep pushing. Call your Senator now and ask them to vote YES on the DREAM Act.

Dial 866-996-5161 or click here to call your Senator.

Your calls have already made a huge difference – keep it up! Make sure your voice is heard.

Thank you,
Marissa Graciosa
Reform Immigration FOR America

[1]A bill must pass both chambers of Congress before being signed into law

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a message from Joe Solmonese …

12/10/2010 Nativegrl77

I know you must have been disappointed when you saw my earlier email tonight saying that the U.S. Senate stopped action on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal, the discriminatory law that bans gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military. This news certainly draws attention to the actions the President can take to end the discharges, and it’s important that we continue to urge him to do so. Aside from that, I also wanted to share some late breaking news that keeps congressional repeal as a possibility THIS YEAR.

After the failed vote to bring up the Defense Authorization bill today, two champions for repeal – Senators Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins – announced that they would introduce repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” as a stand-alone piece of legislation. While passing this new bill will be an uphill battle, it is another chance for a durable legislative solution.

Over the past few days we’ve seen a number of senators speak out for repeal and it’s clear that under the right circumstances, we can get above the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. What got in the way today was procedure.

Thankfully a bipartisan group of senators has committed to finding an alternative method of achieving repeal. We encourage all senators to take up this bill and pass it quickly so that the military has the power to implement a repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

I’ll be in touch in the coming days to give you ways to get involved and help pass this stand-alone bill to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The fight for open service has had many twists and turns but until “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is left in the dustbin of history we will never give up the fight.

Thank you,

Joe Solmonese
President