The Defendant website carries information, discussions, and links to more websites. It also criticizes the news media's coverage of national and political events. The Free Republic contains many of the plaintiffs' copyrighted news stories, sometimes immediately after publication. The Free Republic also archives these copied stories. The Plaintiffs allege that Defendants' copying and archiving decreases revenue from ads and from accessing archived materials.
Defendant argues that it is entitled to carry plaintiffs' copyrighted material.
In fact, they explicitly prohibited it. They also did not intend for a few major corporations to achieve a virtual monopoly on the news. The Free Republic places its own copyright notices in its website. However, the Free Republic's lawyer has primarily pursued the affirmative defense of fair use. Plaintiffs sued in federal court in Los Angeles seeking an injunction, damages, and attorneys fees.