(Newspaper) Copyright Trolling for Dollars: Media’s Latest Answer to Money Woes

A blog I check everyday is shutting down because of a lawsuit from this firm. No attempt at solving any possible problems with exceeding Fair Use, just an out of state Federal lawsuit for $75,000 (the minimum you can sue for this kind of thing). Like the RIAA it would appear that in their legal strategy they're entirely focused on getting small settlements that aren't so small for the bloggers and other small organizations they are suing (in one case, they're suing one of the newspaper's own primary sources for a story! http://chanceofrain.com/2010/05/review-journal-sues-its-own-... Which puts the newspaper in an impossible position to continue reporting on the story.)

In the case I'm familiar with this isn't clear cut and economically damaging copyright infringement like with the RIAA's lawsuits, just excerpts of 6 stories. If taken all the way to trial and judgment the damages would be de minimus, but who can afford to fight a Federal lawsuit for these sorts of stakes in another state?

Perhaps worse, look at the end example in the article where the defendant claims the proper venue is the DMCA since the possibly infringing material was submitted by a user. The lawsuit ought to be easily cleared up, but again that takes retaining a lawyer and going to the courtroom....