Righthaven LLC, the Las Vegas–based copyright-holding company that has sued hundreds of bloggers and Web sites for infringement over the past year, suffered its biggest setback yet in March, when a federal district court judge in Nevada ruled that an Oregon nonprofit that republished an entire article from the Las Vegas Review-Journal —one of Righthaven’s copyright-enforcement partners—was protected by fair use.
If upheld on appeal, the loss—just the company’s second to date on the merits in more than 250 cases filed—could have far-reaching consequences by potentially hindering Righthaven’s ability to attract other news organizations to sign on to its controversial copyright litigation campaign.
