This isn’t so much a New Year’s prediction as a New Year’s fact: Joe Francis and his publicist have already declared war on Gawker for naming him Douche Of the Decade and pinning the term “rapist” (now changed to “alleged rapist”) to the “Girls Gone Wild” entrepreneur.

Mediaite contacted Francis’ publicist, since the man himself didn’t seem to be taking the case very seriously (he sent the original threat of a lawsuit to Nick Denton with a CC to every major gossip writer in town, and included a shirtless picture of himself) but she assured the Web site that, “Mr. Francis is still proceeding with the suit against Gawker.”

He plans to file the suit on Monday, after the holidays, the publicist said.

Though Gawker hasn’t received the papers yet, we doubt they’ll change their stance by then (if the company’s reactions in the face of a suit launched earlier this year by Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart is any indication). Too bad Francis can’t just sue Gawker’s readers, who are the people that actually voted him to the King Douche spot. Maybe he’ll try that next.

Read More: Happy New Year? Joe Francis Plans To Sue Gawker On Monday — Mediaite

Joe Francis: Gawker’s Douche of the Decade –Gawker

Previously: Francis Threatens Suit

New York Times: Magazine publishers hope the long-awaited tablet digital device will finally help earn them some money, a promise the Internet has still not delivered on.

Observer: New York Times executive editor Bill Keller defends his letter to the Polk award committee, casting the latest barb in the paper’s spat with The Wall Street Journal. How will WSJ respond?

MediaPost: A federal judge ruled that Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart cannot seek statutory damages for alleged copyright infringement because they had not registered the copyright to their sex tape before Gawker posted the clip over the summer. Gawker 1, Dane/Gayheart 0.

Mediaite: Speaking of Gawker, here’s a look at how the blog changed the face of journalism during the last decade.

The McSteamy sex tape was the scandal of the summer, and the copyright lawsuit filed by actors Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart against Gawker Media is still pending.

A few months ago, we sought out a legal opinion on the case, but last week we spotted another take on the outcome. Rob Arcamona wrote his take on the case for PBS’s MediaShift blog, focusing on what Gawker cut out of the original 12-minute sex tape to whittle it down to about four minutes. What they cut out and why can affect Gawker’s “fair use” defense, Arcamona said:

“In the end, if this case goes to trial, the outcome will likely depend on what Gawker chose to cut from the video. It’s a strange reality that, in the case of sex tapes, what a news organization doesn’t publish is sometimes more important that what it does.”

Arcamona still thinks Gawker would prevail in a suit, although its chances of making it to trial are slim.

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The copyright infringement lawsuit against Gawker Media filed earlier this week by celebrities Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart raised a number of legal questions for bloggers and the media. We wanted answers, so we asked Jonathan D. Reichman, a partner at intellectual property law firm Kenyon & Kenyon specializing in copyright law, to weigh in on the merits of the case.

After reading the suit, which Gawker posted online, Reichman said he was surprised Dane and Gayheart went after the media company for copyright infringement instead of other claims, like invasion of privacy or violation of right of publicity, which is a celebrity’s right to control how his likeness is used commercially.

“The unique thing about this case is that Eric and Rebecca are putting all of their eggs in the copyright infringement basket,” Reichman said. “They could have sued for publicity rights or privacy rights. Usually in these cases you see celebrities alleging defamation or liable or slander. I don’t see any of those claims.”

Reichman said that if he were Dane and Gayheart’s attorney, he would have at least added the additional claims for good measure. What Dane and Gayheart’s attorney Martin Singer did do, however, was register their sex tape with the Library of Congress and obtain a copyright. Reichman said that obtaining a copyright is fairly easy and copyright infringement is “an easy claim to assert, on paper.”

But will it hold up in court? And what defenses does Gawker have against it? Reichman explains, and suggests what Gawker’s next steps should be, after the jump.

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First there was the not so scandalous sex tape featuring a three-way romp between married celeb couple Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart and former beauty queen Kari Ann Peniche that Gawker posted online last month.

Then yesterday came reports that Dane and Gayheart had filed suit against Gawker, seeking $1 million in damages.

Responded Gawker chief Nick Denton via Twitter (before seeing the full suit): “To quote the great Marty Singer — Eric Dane’s lawyer — if you don’t want a sex tape on the internet, ‘don’t make one!’”

Today, Denton told The New York Times that he had paid for the tape — which has logged over 3 million views since it was posted on August 17. Will that fact change how Dane and Gayheart’s allegations hold up in court?

According to People.com, the suit alleges that “Gawker was warned that posting the video on its Defamer.com violated the couple’s legal and privacy rights, but that the blog ‘went on to maliciously distribute an uncensored copy’ of the tape.”

Thanks to a little something called the First Amendment, journalists are generally not afraid of lawsuits, especially when they have the power of a media company like Gawker behind them. But the question is, does this instance fall under freedom of the press, or can it be seen as malicious? Will Gawker give in, take the video down or settle out of court? Or will Denton have his day in court? But more importantly: will this suit and its outcome affect journalists and bloggers and what they choose to post in the future? Journalist always have a threat of a lawsuit when making decisions what to publish, so one suit of this kind is not bound to change the face of blogging or journalism too much. But if there’s one thing journalists know, its that celebrity and sex always make for great news. If Dane and Gayheart just wanted this to go away, perhaps filing suit wasn’t the best move.

Listen to more thoughts about the lawsuit on this morning’s podcast.

Update: Gawker has posted a copy of the suit for you to peruse.

FishbowlNY editor Amanda Ernst joined Jason Boog of GalleyCat and AgencySpy‘s Matt Van Hoven on the mediabistro.com Morning Media Menu today to talk celebrity scandals in the media.

The two biggest stories of the day were actress Mackenzie Phillip‘s new memoir “High on Arrival,” which chronicles her long incestuous relationship with her father, The Mamas & The Papas founder John Phillips. Phillips has appeared on Oprah Winfrey‘s talk show and the “Today” show this morning and Jason, Matt and Amanda wondered how these dirty secrets remained under wraps for so long.

Also discussed: news that celeb couple Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart had sued Gawker Media for publishing a sex tape featuring them and another woman a few weeks ago. What implications will this suit have on freedom of the press? And are the claims of copyright infringement going to stand up under legal scrutiny?

Lastly, there has been talk of Hallmark launching a celebrity Web site that only features good news. While this new site might become an outlet for publicity hungry flacks, it will also give be platform for those things that sell celebrity magazines so well: celebrity baby and wedding photos.

You can listen to all the past podcasts at BlogTalkRadio.com/mediabistro and call in at 646-929-0321.

FishbowlDC: One final thought about Robert Novak‘s death today: “There’s no question if you walked out of here and I dropped dead, my obit would probably have [the Plame affair] in the lede.”

New York Times: Cablevision-owned Newsday has rejected an ad by the Tennis Channel chastising the cable provider for not carrying the network.

Detroit Free Press: Time Inc. has purchased a house in Detroit’s West Village that will serve as the media company’s home base as it covers the Michigan city’s struggles to survive the recession.

Paid Content: More reactions to the news that Reader’s Digest Association will likely file for Chapter 11.

Mediaite: The NSFW Eric Dane-Rebecca Gayheart threesome video is racking up big page views for Gawker. But since Nick Denton reinstated page view bonuses at the Web media company, is anyone profiting from the onslaught of clicks? Unfortunately, the popular post’s writer, Gabriel Snyder, is Gawker’s managing editor, so he’s not eligible for the page view bonus, although he will get a bonus for overall increased traffic to the site.

With the surprising dearth of A-listers at Fashion Week (Does Sophia Bush ever stay home?), those of us who brave crowds at the tents to ask celebs burning questions like: ‘Besides your Blackberry what do you never leave home without?’ the Michael Kors show promised to yield plenty of chatty items that populate the pages of People and Us ‘Weekly. IGM’s Fern Mallis said there’d be no less than 15 marquee names (“Raquel Welsh is backstage”)in the front row. Jackpot!

When Angie Harmon had been nice enough to stop and chat about the Writer’s Strike on her way into the tents, things looked promising. We took a lap around the front row spying cards that boasted names such as Natasha Richardson and Sigourney Weaver. A few seats down, there were plenty of blanks (with the exception of a sole seat tagged Chris Ivery‘ — clever, since he’s the hubby of Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo and the seat next to him was empty. However…

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