The Las Vegas Sun today reported that “The owner of the Las Vegas Review-Journal has for the first time been hit with a counterclaim over its online copyright infringement lawsuit campaign, with attorneys for the Electronic Frontier Foundation accusing the newspaper of entering a “sham” relationship with the Review-Journal’s copyright enforcement partner Righthaven LLC — and accusing Righthaven of copyright fraud. 

Attorneys for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an influential Internet freedom of speech and privacy group based in San Francisco, filed the counterclaim Monday in federal court in Las Vegas against Review-Journal owner Stephens Media LLC as well as Righthaven. 

Righthaven is a company owned by Las Vegas attorney Steven Gibson and an affiliate of Stephens Media’s parent company in Arkansas. 

Righthaven detects online infringements to Review-Journal stories, obtains copyrights from Stephens Media to those stories and then sues websites where the stories had been posted weeks or months earlier by webmasters or third-party message-board and forum users. Through Monday, 141 suits had been filed against defendants in the United States and Canada. 

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) says the lawsuit campaign threatens freedom of speech on the Internet as Righthaven generally sues without first asking that infringing material be removed from websites or be replaced with links as is the standard practice in the U.S. newspaper industry.” Click here to read the full story in the Las Vegas Sun. Click here for a copy of the counterclaim by EFF.

Bogus Copyright Claims Used to Threaten Democratic Underground

Las Vegas – The online political discussion forum Democratic Underground is fighting back against a lawsuit filed by copyright troll Righthaven LLC, arguing in court documents filed Monday that the short excerpt of a news article at issue in the suit is a clear case of fair use.

Democratic Underground — represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Winston & Strawn LLP, and attorney Chad Bowers — was sued by Righthaven on August 10 for a five-sentence excerpt of a Las Vegas Review-Journal news story that a user posted on the forum, with a link back to the Review-Journal website. Righthaven has brought over 130 lawsuits in Nevada federal court claiming copyright infringement, even though they do not create, produce or distribute any content. Instead, they create lawsuits by scouring the Internet for content from Review-Journal stories posted on blogs and online forums, acquiring the copyright to that particular story from Stephens Media LLC (the Review-Journal’s publisher), and then suing the poster for infringement. Read the rest of this entry »

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which had improved in August, retreated in September. The Index now stands at 48.5 (1985=100), down from 53.2 in August. The Present Situation Index decreased to 23.1 from 24.9. The Expectations Index declined to 65.4 from 72.0 last month.

The Consumer Confidence Survey is based on a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households. The monthly survey is conducted for The Conference Board by TNS. TNS is the world’s largest custom research company. The cutoff date for September’s preliminary results was September 21st. Read the rest of this entry »

Over the past year, we have found an increasing number of complaints about the practice of Strategic Communications, which by our definition comprises virtually all communications disciplines, i.e. Public Relations, Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, Crisis Communications and so forth. They generally come from our newer clients who candidly have retained Stern And Company with some trepidation, as their experiences with Strategic Communications have yielded virtually no added value.

One of our newest clients told us that its previous firm netted it a single media placement in three years and that was on a web-based publication; and was rarely responsive to requests for tasks as elemental as simple editorial work. Now, that the client maintained its relationship is certainly on its side of the equation. That its firm drove unreasonable expectations and failed to deliver is typical of many agencies these days, not all, but many. Read the rest of this entry »

Data through July 2010, released today by Standard & Poor’s for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, show that the annual growth rates in 16 of the 20 MSAs and the 10- and 20-City Composites slowed in July compared to June 2010. The 10-City Composite is up 4.1% and the 20-City Composite is up 3.2% from where they were in July 2009. For June they were reported as +5.0% and +4.2%, respectively. Although home prices increased in most markets in July versus June, 15 MSAs and both Composites saw these monthly rates moderate in July.

In July, continuing its downward trend in all but two of the past 46 months, Las Vegas posted another index low as measured by the current housing cycle, when it peaked in August 2006. Peak-to-trough, that market is down 57.0%. Charlotte, Dallas, Denver, Phoenix, Portland and Tampa also saw prices decline in July. Read the rest of this entry »