Online political commentator Matt Drudge has survived an attempt by copyright law firm Righthaven to seize some of his domain names in a copyright dispute, by settling the case.
Drudge was sued by Righthaven in early December, and one of the threats issued by what the law firm many have dubbed a "copyright troll" was that Matt hand over both the Drudgereport.com and DrudgeReportArchives.com domain names, simply because Drudge may used a photo from a news outlet that Righthaven represents, hardly a crime worth the $150,000 that Righthaven was asking for, and requesting the seizure of the domain name for the misappropriate use of a single picture file is unheard of in the United States.
Details of the settlement agreement are not forthcoming, but it appears Drudge will get to keep his domain names, but would probably have had to pay a four figure settlement fee, which was exactly what Righthaven was after all along.
The Drudge Report wasn't the only political website that Righthaven have tried to sue. They also sued liberal news and web forum Democratic Underground, but Righthaven have since tried to drop the case due to stronger than expected opposition from the website.
Do you think Matt Drudge should have put up more of a fight against Righthaven, or do you think that this is the right result? Post your opinion in our comments section, or in this forum thread:
http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=94564
Home
