New Money Making Idea: Volunteer Free Content Then Sue For Payment

10 replies
Reading this morning about the class action lawsuit against the Huffington Post being filed by volunteer bloggers who, after HuffPo was paid millions in the AOL buyout but they were paid nothing, have decided they want to be paid for their blogging.

Source: AOL, Arianna Huffington Hit with Class Action Suit - Jeff Bercovici - Mixed Media - Forbes

Lawsuit here: http://www.huffingtonpostlawsuit.com...il_12_2011.pdf

According to the lawsuit:
"This action seeks to vindicate the fundamental principle that the creators of value deserve to be compensated and ... whether in the digital age, profitable digital media sites should be required to compensate the creators of valuable content from which such sites derive substantial revenues ...."
Similar ideas ...

Sue Google for profiting from your web content.

Sue EzineArticles for your share of revenue generated by your articles.

Find guest blogging opportunities then sue for payment.

Why stop at bloggers? Go submit your comments at HuffPo and then sue on behalf of all blog commenters.

Sneaky idea - comment at Huffpo, then if the bloggers win their class action lawsuit sue the bloggers for your fair share of their fair share.

Comment on every blog you can find with Adsense and sue for your "fair share".

(FYI - You already agreed the Warrior Forum will not pay you for the awesome content you post here. Find another forum for this idea.)
#content #free #idea #making #money #payment #sue #volunteer
  • Profile picture of the author jamesrich1
    There are so many crazy lawsuits and this is one of them. My integrity doesn't even allow me to think lawsuit unless I have been royally screwed against my will. There are too many people who feel they are owed something by someone looking for a quick handout by the courts.
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    Doubt that they will win that. They did agree to blog for free, did they not? No one abducted them and made free blogging slaves out of them, correct?

    Just trying to get a piece of Huff Post's big payday.
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    • Profile picture of the author bmillionaire324
      Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

      Doubt that they will win that. They did agree to blog for free, did they not? No one abducted them and made free blogging slaves out of them, correct?

      Just trying to get a piece of Huff Post's big payday.
      I agree with this... yeah..
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  • Profile picture of the author Alan Petersen
    How quickly they turn. Comparing bloggers to slaves is ridiculous. The dude suing is an "activist"....

    AOL-Huffpo Suit Seeks $105M: ‘This Is About Justice’ - Jeff Bercovici - Mixed Media - Forbes
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    The lawsuit is wholly without merit. As we’ve said before, our bloggers use our platform — as well as other unpaid group blogs across the web — to connect and help their work be seen by as many people as possible. It’s the same reason people go on TV shows: to promote their views and ideas. HuffPost bloggers can cross-post their work on other sites, including their own. Aside from our group blog, to which thousands of people from around the world contribute, we operate a journalistic enterprise with hundreds of paid staff editors, writers, and reporters.
    We'll see how it pans out, but I don't see any difference between people blogging on Huff Post platform and people blogging on Blogger platform. Are they going to sue Blogger if Blogger were sold? Good luck with that legal theory.
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    • Profile picture of the author skwurl
      Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

      We'll see how it pans out, but I don't see any difference between people blogging on Huff Post platform and people blogging on Blogger platform. Are they going to sue Blogger if Blogger were sold? Good luck with that legal theory.
      true, very true. there's an idea, lol....
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      • Profile picture of the author mikeroosa
        This doesn't make much sense. I think they knew they weren't getting paid didn't they?
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  • Profile picture of the author christopher jon
    When you think about it, most people aren't the sharpest tools in the shed.
    With this, I agree 100%
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  • Profile picture of the author Bruce NewMedia
    Almost from the day the sale to AOL was announced, there were rumors this was going to happen...lotta jealously there.
    _____
    Bruce
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  • Profile picture of the author davezan
    Originally Posted by kindsvater View Post

    Similar ideas ...

    Sue Google for profiting from your web content.

    Sue EzineArticles for your share of revenue generated by your articles.

    Find guest blogging opportunities then sue for payment.

    Why stop at bloggers? Go submit your comments at HuffPo and then sue on behalf of all blog commenters.

    Sneaky idea - comment at Huffpo, then if the bloggers win their class action lawsuit sue the bloggers for your fair share of their fair share.

    Comment on every blog you can find with Adsense and sue for your "fair share".

    (FYI - You already agreed the Warrior Forum will not pay you for the awesome content you post here. Find another forum for this idea.)
    And don't forget to sue Facebook, too.

    It'll boil down to the devil in the details. Terms of agreement, what applicable
    laws if any, etc.

    Good luck to those guys. I doubt they'll win unless they know something none
    of us knows.

    Or...they settle?
    Signature

    David

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