Free Republic contains many copyrighted news articles from the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post. P.O. Box 9771, Fresno, CA 93794. The plaintiffs are large, well known, and respected news media companies which at great expense produce large quantities of news stories and other information, including coverage of national and political events. Both publish widely circulated print newspapers and heavily trafficked websites. Both carry paid advertising in their websites.
Ad revenues are a function of the volume of traffic to their websites.
And hence, their revenues are dependent on how many people visit their websites to read their news stories. Both also archive older news stories, and charge for access to those stories. 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.