Righthaven v. Jama

Citation
Righthaven, L.L.C. v. Jama, 2011 WL 1541613 (D. Nev. Apr. 22, 2011).

Factual Background
Defendants were Center for Intercultural Organizing (CIO) and its executive Kayse Jama. CIO is a "nonprofit organization dedicated to helping immigrants become aware of immigration-related issues." After the Las Vegas Review-Journal (LVRJ) published an article on whether police were targeting minorities, defendants posted the article in its entirety on the CIO website. LVRJ subsequently assigned the copyright in the article to plaintiff Righthaven, LLC, which accused defendants of copyright infringement.

The issue before the court was whether CIO's unauthorized publication of the LVRJ article on its website was fair use of Righthaven's copyright in the article.

The court held that CIO's use of the article was fair. The court found that CIO's noncommercial use of the informational article to educate the public was transformative and did not constitute a substitution of Righthaven's use. The court also found that, although CIO posted the work in its entirety, the amount used was reasonable in light of the informational purpose of the use. Lastly, the court found that Righthaven had failed to show that CIO's use of the article resulted in any market harm or a reduction in the value of Righthaven's copyright in the article.

Source

 * Fair Use Index