Having just written a blog about one church suing another church for servicemark infringement (see God Is On Our Side), we now find an entrepreneur suing a porn website for infringement of a copyright on an article about a church. (Righthaven LLC v. Hush-Hush Entertainment, Inc. et al.)
Righthaven is, not to put too fine a point on it, a copyright troll. Righthaven, in the person of Steve Gibson, purchases copyrights of articles from local newspapers and sues the individuals or organizations which reprint or, more often, post them on their websites (see our previous blog post, WARNING).
Hush-Hush is a – presently suspended – California corporation which owns the website pornnewz.com. PN Media Inc., part of the “et al.,” is the website host. Hush-Hush posted an article entitled, “XXXChurch.com strives to demonstrate Jesus’ love overcomes any stigma,” about “a church that ministers to pornography stars, exotic dancers and prostitutes in the [where else] Las Vegas, Nevada area.” The copyright to this fascinating article is presently owned by Righthaven.
Righthaven sued the defendants for the unauthorized posting of this work and for failing to “proactively” attempt to “preclude the posting by others of copyright-infringing content,” or to “monitor,” or “delete,” or “address” such postings. Righthaven claims it will be “irreparably harmed” unless the defendants are enjoined from further infringement of its rights to this literary masterpiece. As compensation for its suffering, Righthaven seeks statutory damages, costs, disbursements, attorney’s fees, and pre- and post-judgment interest.
To date there has been no response from the defendants, nor any comment from the porn stars, strippers or hookers.