News & Media
Righthaven Ordered to Pay Defendant's Legal Fees
Vegas Inc., July 6, 2011 Discusses a District of Nevada ruling in Righthaven LLC v. Leon et al., awarding full attorney’s fees to Defendant’s counsel after obtaining dismissal in a copyright case. Read more…
And, speaking of the devil…
By J. DeVoy One of Iceland’s largest and most active volcanos, dubbed the “Gateway to Hell” in the Middle Ages, is ready to erupt again. Significance: Europe, in the spasms of late-stage collapse and debt crisis, will be adversely affected by any travel disruptions caused by a violent eruption. With many countries on the brink, and Germany bailing out virtually all of them, any disruption of tourism and commerce is a disruption too much. To help with the visual, here’s a recent dust storm in Phoenix, in which the city is engulfed by a 5,000 foot tall wall of sand. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84ZZi75w0qk&w=425&h=349]
Nancy Grace: "Devil is dancing" over Casey Anthony verdict.
By J. DeVoy Nancy Grace, who was reprimanded several times by the Georgia courts during her tenure as a prosecutor, says that the Devil is dancing after the jury in Casey Anthony’s case returned verdicts of not guilty on all charges but those where Anthony was accused of making false statements. If true, I suspect Satan was going all out with dubstep.
Righthaven must pay defendant's fees
Since my firm handled this case, I am not going to comment on it at this time. Nevertheless, the Order says it all. Righthaven has been ordered to pay a defendant’s attorneys fees and costs. Order here.
Photoshop
Every girl should be required to go to a “what photoshop does” class by the time they are 10 years old. Either that, or news publications should be required to either use non-shopped images, or they should at least have to label the things. I’ve actually done this job… a hell of a long time ago. I must admit that even then it made me sorta sick — and this is coming from a guy who isn’t exactly getting invited to parties by Jessica Valenti or Ann Bartow. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP31r70_QNM]
Fun with the CPSC Fireworks Safety Video
[youtube=http://youtu.be/-OcIwPx-SCs] H/T: Bob
Casey Anthony trial results in at least one person going to jail
Judge Belvin Perry sent Matthew Bartlett, 28, to jail for six days for flipping off Jeff Ashton during the trial. (source) The court did previously issue an order that there were no gestures to be made, in approval or disapproval, during the trial. This order was posted on the doors to the courtroom. That said, it seems a bit disproportionate to put the guy in jail for six days for it.
Obama Scales Back Goals For America After Visiting Denny's
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yiQXPOO1Yo&NR=1] the comments to this on youtube, where I found it, are pretty hilarious.
Righthaven, Righthaven, Really?
Since my firm is engaged in quite a few cases against Righthaven, I want to limit my comments. But, fortunately, this blog post from Righthaven Victims seems to say it all. Essentially, the Court thought that Righthaven deserved to be sanctioned for its disingenuous copyright “assignments” and failing to disclose the fact that Stephens Media was a 50% stakeholder in any judgments that Righthaven might collect. The Court asked Righthaven to tell the Court why it should not be sanctioned. Righthaven’s excuse was pretty much “the dog ate my homework.” They threw former Righthaven lawyers Charles Coons and Joseph Chu under the bus — blaming them for the “omission.” (Resp. at 3). However, as Steve Green points out at Vegas
Are all .com and .net domains under U.S. jurisdiction?
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) takes the position that if a website is located at a .com or a .net domain, then they have sufficient ties to the USA to make them fair game for U.S. prosecutors. (source) To understand this position, you need to understand that every domain name has a registrant, a registrar, and a registry. The registrant is the easy part — whoever registered the domain name is the registrant. Registrar is one that most people are familiar with too — this is the company you use to register your domain name. The Registry is the one that sort of flies under the radar. Every top level domain (TLD) is sponsored by a particular
ACLU Challenges "cyber bullying" ban in Tennessee
The international association of crybabies has had quite a lot of success getting “cyber bullying” into the national lexicon, and following that, getting new laws passed in order to make sure that nobody’s feewings get hurt on the Internets. Tennessee’s new crybaby law makes it illegal to post any images that cause “emotional distress” to any individual. Rep. Larry Miller, D-Memphis, said he believed it was too broadly drafted. “I think about some of the e-mail I’ve gotten from constituents that were quite emotionally distressing and I wonder where we’re going with this,” he said. (Source) It is pretty obvious where “we” are going with this. The do-nothing crybaby academics whined about people’s feewings being hurt, and politicians love to
Doubting of Thomas
The Atlantic provides a good study into Clarence Thomas’ dubious claim that he is merely a faithful “originalist.” (source)
The big, bad Wolf on porn
By Tatiana von Tauber Feminist Naomi Wolf asked a serious question in a recent CNN article: “Is pornography driving men crazy?” I had to read it twice just to make sure I was understanding her claim. In a nutshell, Wolf suggests that porn rewires the brain and hence creates impulses that are uncontrollable while “desensitizing healthy young men to the erotic appeal of their own partners”. She brings up neuroscience, sex addictions, dopamine and a slew of other interesting ideas best left for a good laugh. Between the Republican dingbats Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin claiming capability of leadership and sex scared feminists still finding new ways to bash pornography I’m thankful I left the American South. I had a wonderful 4th celebration with
Jessica Valenti doesn't understand the Streisand Effect
By J. DeVoy Imagine if there was an online database of killers, child abusers, bigots, rapists and liars – and they were all women. Now there is! Register-Her.com, a project started by Paul Elam, a men’s rights activist and contributor to The Spearhead, uses a wiki-style webpage to consolidate locally and nationally reported facts about women whose documented wrongs range from murder to false rape accusations. [Disclaimer: Like Elam, I also contribute to The Spearhead.] This is SRS BUSINESS. One of the first additions to the site as a “bigot” is feministing’s own Jessica Valenti. Merriam-Webster defines a bigot as “a person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially : one who regards or treats the members of
Dog Shooter SLAPP Suit Shot Down
By Marc J. Randazza It’s an all-too-common scenario: A blogger criticizes someone online, and then gets sued for his statements. But two things make this case unique: First, the plaintiff sued because of the blogger’s characterizations of him shooting two dogs at close range; second, the defendant blogger was in Florida – and thus protected by Fla. Stat. § 770.01. Florida’s pre-suit notice statute, § 770.01, requires defamation plaintiffs to alert defendants to the allegedly defamatory material before filing suit. The statute reads, in its entirety: 770.01 Notice condition precedent to action or prosecution for libel or slander. Before any civil action is brought for publication or broadcast, in a newspaper, periodical, or other medium, of a libel or
Righthaven Hit with Third Fair Use Loss Over R-J Material
Vegas Inc., June 20, 2011 Reviews the District of Nevada’s decision in Righthaven LLC v. Hoehn, — F. Supp. 2d —, 2011 WL 2441020, which dismissed Righthaven’s case against Hoehn for lack of standing and, in addition, found that Hoehn’s use of a full Las Vegas Review-Journal article in a discussion forum as non-infringing fair use. Read more…
Righthaven suffers new setback
I am not going to comment extensively upon this, since Myself and Jay DeVoy of Randazza Legal Group are counsel for the defendant. However, I will share that Righthaven filed suit against a guy for posting a news article into a newsgroup. We felt that this was fair use. We moved for summary judgment, and while that motion was pending, we discovered that it seemed that Righthaven did not have standing in the first place. The judge agreed on both grounds, and Mr. Hoehn has prevailed. Judge Pro’s opinion is here.
Rep. Steve Cohen on SLAPPs
Representative Steve Cohen, the Legal Satyricon’s favorite Congressman (source), provides an editorial in Roll Call on SLAPP litigation and the Dan Snyder case (prev. blogged on here).
Open letter to Mr. Bardamu: Why won’t you pay for porn?
By J. DeVoy On Ephemeral Notebook, Ferdinand Bardamu – skilled writer and friend of the blog – writes that Kayden Kross’ takedown of pirates won’t make him stop stealing porn. While “stealing” is an emotionally charged word, and copyright infringement laws only affect uploaders on bittorrent, tubes and file locker sites (assuming, very generously, the latter two are DMCA compliant), that is ultimately what piracy of porn and anything else is about: Getting something for nothing. I’m fond of Ferdinand, and his primary blog, In Mala Fide, is on our blogroll. He links to my posts when they’re interesting and not too legal, and I link to his if I think readers here might appreciate them. I’ve both written for
Being beta is bad for you
By J. DeVoy A recent conversation led me to contemplate how destructive being beta is – for the body, for the wallet and for the soul. Regular readers should not be surprised by the proposition that the “dark triad” personality characteristics of narcissism, machiavellianism and psychopathy attract women. Newcomers and naysayers should ponder why their women friends are always complaining about being ignored by the “assholes” they love. Today begins the weekend. For the typical beta, this means one dinner date – possibly two – that might conclude with awkward kissing on her front step and unreturned phone calls. I’ll assume that each date will cost $80 in any real city, possibly up to $140 if he’s going to engage
