Image for TechDirt: They see me trollin’

TechDirt: They see me trollin’

Copyright trolling is getting expensive. Article by Mike Masnick for TechDirt Earlier this year, we noted that famed copyright trolling operation Perfect 10 had lost big time in its lawsuit against Giganews. Perfect 10 is a copyright trolling operation that pretends to be a pornographic magazine publisher, but whose main line of business has long been threatening online platforms to pay up linking to or hosting some of its content that users uploaded. While some online websites have paid up to avoid lawsuits, in basically every case that went to trial, Perfect 10 has lost big time, often setting very useful and very important precedents on copyright and fair use. If you haven't gone through Perfect 10's Hall of Fame in setting up great precedents for fair use and intermediary liability protections, check out some of the classics:

Copyright trolling is getting expensive.

Article by Mike Masnick for TechDirt

Earlier this year, we noted that famed copyright trolling operation Perfect 10 had lost big time in its lawsuit against Giganews. Perfect 10 is a copyright trolling operation that pretends to be a pornographic magazine publisher, but whose main line of business has long been threatening online platforms to pay up linking to or hosting some of its content that users uploaded. While some online websites have paid up to avoid lawsuits, in basically every case that went to trial, Perfect 10 has lost big time, often setting very useful and very important precedents on copyright and fair use. If you haven't gone through Perfect 10's Hall of Fame in setting up great precedents for fair use and intermediary liability protections, check out some of the classics:

And now we can add Perfect 10 v. Giganews to the list with a great final act: the judge in the case has ordered Perfect 10 to pay up $5.6 million in attorneys' fees for filing such a ridiculous lawsuit. We knew that the judge was unhappy with Perfect 10 based on the original ruling, but the ruling on attorneys' fees [pdf] is worth reading as well. The court notes that it has wide latitude in determining if attorneys' fees are reasonable, especially in copyright cases, even though such awards are pretty rare. The court admits that it's a "close call," but doesn't find Perfect 10's claims to be "frivolous." However, that doesn't mean that the court doesn't recognize the games that Perfect 10 has been playing: copyright trolling as a tax write-off.

- Read more at TechDirt



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