LAS VEGAS (AP) - A San Francisco firm that defends free speech on the Web is taking on a Las Vegas company that has filed more than 140 copyright lawsuits this year.
Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a counterclaim this week that calls Righthaven LLC's ongoing copyright battle a sham shakedown operation.
Righthaven tracks Internet traffic for copyright infringements of stories published by Stephens Media LLC. It then buys the copyright and sues the alleged infringer.
Many of the cases involve stories originally published by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Stephens Media's flagship newspaper. Defendants include the Nevada Democratic Party, the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada and Republican U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle.
EFF says the lawsuits are baseless grabs for money.