Righthaven sues Brian Hill: Update IV
p2pnet view P2P | Freedom | Security:- To pull a clipping from one of Jon’s earlier posts…
“p2pnet has been following the tacky career of Steve Gibson (bottom right), the US shyster who’s been buying up copyrights and then using them to extort money from people he accuses of infringement.
He operates on the same Mafia principle as did Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music’s RIAA: that 9.9 times out of 10, the people he goes after won’t have the knowledge, money or legal resources to be able to defend themselves.
So they’ll pay him to go away.
He’s currently trying to get $6,000 out of Brian Hill (top right), a young guy who suffers from the potentially deadly ‘brittle’ form of diabetes, andwho’s also mildly autistic.
There’s no way Brian will be able to come up with that kind of money, even if he wanted to. But that’s not going to stop Gibson.“
Following up on this, Jon has forwarded an e-mail from Brian Hill, complete with court documents attached, outlining a (supposed) voluntary dismissal of the suit against him by Righthaven, as well as Righthaven’s rant against Brian being struck down by the judge.
PDFs: < Notice-of-Dismissal > < Order-to-Strike >
The fact that these can be posted says something!
Brian says…
“My attorney gave me the okays to forward the documents to all media contacts, and I am also sending to bloggers as well as this means good news for me. This is all on public record now so might as well save all reporters time by forwarding you these two attached documents.”
Also a few links about the recent event that has happened:
http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2011/04/brian_hill_righthaven_suit_judge_order.php
http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2011/apr/11/righthaven-drops-copyright-lawsuit-against-autisti/
Jon comments…
“This is a major victory for those unfairly targeted whenever they never notified anyone that the photos were copyrighted and never sent any legal warnings or even takedown notices to any of the defendants. How else will they know they infringed copyright law without any warnings sent to them. Also the court cases being fought over excerpts determine Fair Use exemptions in the future as to why these cases are being watched by a lot of people.”
From: Brian Hill
To: Jon Newton (and various other reporters and bloggers)
Subject: Update regarding my websites return and adding legal precautions
As all who have watched my Righthaven lawsuit have noticed my website had been put on self suspension out of fear due to the lawsuit. I decided to bring it back under a few adjustments and conditions to my own website in order to better protect myself in the future. As I am making this announcement to all reporters who have been tracking my story you can now see what my website looks like.
These are the legal precautions I am taking as the condition for bringing the website back:
(1) My website will have a takedown page and will start a small fundraiser to be able to afford DMCA Act Safeharbor protection since my website is open to blog posts from anyone who wants to register. I don’t want what any person decides to post to lead me into another lawsuit so I am setting up pages for cease and desist orders.
(2) I will have someone check my websites images to see if any are a potential infringement so I can remove them accordingly. That way I don’t make a stupid mistake ever again.
(3) I will cite any laws that will protect reporters and bloggers on my website or a separate law page that will be used to protect Free Speech, Free Press, and other civil liberties.
(4) I will start gathering more people to join my website as a team of volunteer news bloggers that will write their own stories so we can get the news out without violating anyones copyrights.
I will comply with any cease and desist order as long as it is completely authorized under copyright law and not some prank to attack my website because I know somebody could pull a fake cease and desist order. Takedown notices I will comply with as well as long as it’s not a prank.
That is all! My local news website has returned and once the legal precautions I’ve been working on are added my website will be fully up and running.
Seems like positive news.
Hats off to you, Brian!
For those interested, Brian Hill’s blogsite can be found here.
Devil’s Advocate – p2pnet
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April 23rd, 2011 at 6:07 am
There is only one way to deal with parasites such as Steve Gibson.
April 23rd, 2011 at 10:42 am
He’s following the RIAA plan to the letter isn’t he ?
Turn and flee if you’re losing or risk a precedent setting decision.
“There is only one way to deal with parasites such as Steve Gibson.”
And just what are you, personally suggesting that you are going to do ?
You realize that no one here advocates violence of any kind, so whatever you do , you do alone.
April 23rd, 2011 at 10:51 am
@Dredd:
I just thought the leading, unresolved sentence was to create suspense.
April 24th, 2011 at 2:14 pm
Note from DA:
Sorry, RW.
I hate this, but I have to do it.
In the interest of maintaining a neutral stance, I’ve decided that it wouldn’t be just to bar someone, only to let others continue to rant on about that person when he can’t retaliate.
You’ll notice, I’ve also removed my own comment.
April 24th, 2011 at 4:24 pm
(Hell, the topic is supposed to be Brian Hill vs Righthaven, if I’m not mistaken.)
April 27th, 2011 at 1:59 pm
Ok, read the dismissal first and then the strike and started laughing.
Strike order one of the best slaps I’ve read in a long time.
April 27th, 2011 at 2:03 pm
I got so caught in the laughing I neglected to say, “Happy news, Brian!”
All the best, kiddo.