Las Vegas's copyright crapshoot could maim social media

Every year billions in wagers are laid down in the gambling halls of Las Vegas. Last spring, however, one local company, Righthaven LLC, started a new game by betting on the unlikeliest of entities in the local courts — print media. By aggressively suing alleged copyright infringers, Righthaven has taken the shooter position in an consequential game of craps that is sure to impact the future of online media, if not the entire Internet. Meanwhile, newspapers, bloggers, lawyers, and civil liberty groups have all flocked to the table to place bets of their own — and see if they can change the odds.