MNG's copyright enforcers get Drudge to settle

The Drudge Report has agreed to an out of court settlement with the MediaNews Group's copyright enforcement over the website's use of a TSA screening photo from MNG's Denver Post, according to a report in the Denver Daily News. MNG transfers the copyrights of its stories and photos from some of its newspapers to Righthaven LLC of Las Vegas, which then sends "take down" letters to those who allegedly violate those copyrights. The letters threaten lawsuits. Targets have included small one-person blogs to highly successful sites like Drudge. The Denver Daily story didn't say how much Drudge had to pay to settle the case. MNG is the operator of the San Jose Mercury News, Contra Costa Times, Marin Independent Journal, Palo Alto Daily News, San Mateo County Times and several other Bay Area newspapers.