Righthaven: Obama Ties To Copyright War Deepen

Righthaven: Obama Ties To Copyright War Deepen

EXCLUSIVE BY FINTAN DUNNE

Bloggers already know of the association between Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and Steve Gibson. The latter’s Righthaven firm has launched a legal war on websites over alleged copyright infringement.

All three worked for Chicago Law firm Sidley Austin LLP, where Gibson and Michelle Obama coincidentally specialized in copyright-related “intellectual property” law for the firm.

I’ve just uncovered a further Obama link to this new copyright war.

Just two weeks ago Detroit-based Dickinson Wright PLLC acquired Steven Gibson’s Las Vegas-based legal firm of Gibson Lowry Burris LLP, with Gibson becoming managing partner of what is now Dickinson’s Las Vegas office.

Gibson will now have as a new Dickinson colleague Patrick Miles Jr., who works with Dickinson Wright’s Grand Rapids office –one of ten satellites of the parent law firm.

Miles Jr. is currently running for the Michigan 3rd Congressional District seat which Vern Ehlers is vacating. On a Monday in early June, 2010 Miles was fortunate enough to meet personally with Obama for “just a few minutes” in Kalamazoo, MI.

“It was really good to see him,” Miles told the Grand Rapids Press. “It was rare to get that time to talk with him one on one, really precious.”

Miles shouldn’t be so coy about his ability to engage Obama’s support. After all he was a classmate of Obama’s at Harvard Law School, graduating in 1991. He even helped raise the tidy sum of $250,000 for the Obama 2008 Presidential campaign. They go back a long way.

Barack, Michelle, Gibson, Miles. They all go back a long way. Maybe all four should get together and shoot the breeze about… Harvard, Sidley Austin, Dickinson Wright, Righthaven and… even copyright issues, as they pertain to uppity bloggers.

Maybe they already have.

Contributed by Fintan Dunne. See more at Fintan’s blog.