Blogger Precedent could be set

Hey Everyone!

Hope y'all are having a great break.

Though this really has nothing to do with movie or TV reviews, it has a lot to do with blogging. As has been discussed at length within journalism, blogging is changing the face of how people get their information.

However, the celebrity gossip Web Site, http://www.perezhilton, which i read very frequently, is currently involved in a $7.5 million lawsuit against the paparazzi photo source X17.

The LA Times did a story on this lawsuit, which can be read in full at the above link.

Some highlights of the story are quoted below

Reached by phone at his "office," a corner table in a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf on Sunset Boulevard, Hilton, whose real name
is Mario Lavandeira, sounded miffed. "She is suing me because I'm arrogant? That's not what her press release said. My
position is that I don't think what I am doing is illegal, and I am going to vigorously defend myself. I am willing to step up
to the plate and fight for my rights and fight for the rights of all bloggers."

While it's easy to be flippant about a battle between paparazzi and a sometimes juvenile blogger (who might draw cocaine
or mucus trails from noses, mouth drool or other snarky/silly things on the photos he posts), there is a serious legal
question at issue."

But X17's attorney, John Tehranian of Costa Mesa, doesn't see it as fair use at all. Hilton, he said, "is basically free-riding
on the labor and efforts of X17 and its photographers who stay up all night and roam the city, and he simply right-clicks
and posts their photos." (Actually, Navarre said, she has altered her site so that Hilton can no longer right-click to get
photos, but he manages to get them anyway.)

This conflict is more than a juicy legal fight between two controversial enterprises. It's also the manifestation of a cultural
shift in how those obsessed with pop culture get their fixes. These days, no one has to wait for People's weekly
appearance on the newsstand or even "Access Hollywood's" nightly roundups to find out about Nicole Richie's latest arrest
or shockingly low weight.

Hilton, who said he earned less than $50,000 last year and expected to make in the six figures this year, is known for the
dizzying pace at which he updates his site, sometimes posting two dozen or more times a day.

"Perez is not being targeted because he's an affront to paparazzi everywhere," said technology expert Matt Lum, whose
company, Hoodlum Productions, provides technology expertise to both Hilton and X17. "He is being targeted because the
entire industry is undergoing a shift that was arguably brought on by blogs like perezhilton.com, which took stargazers
from a weekly or nightly television fix to an hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute, entertain-yourself-at-the-workplace
enterprise.

"The way that Americans get their news and entertainment these days is a whole lot different from waiting for things to get
printed, and that's what's at the crux of this whole ordeal," Lum added. "When he says he is fighting for all bloggers, he
really is."

Keep an eye out on this law suit because this will have serious consequences for journalists and bloggers alike!