Topic: Copyright Troll "Righthaven" goes on life support

[IronDioPriest]

Copyright Troll Righthaven Goes on Life Support

The great experiment in copyright trolling that is Righthaven appears to be nearing an end.

Righthaven, which was founded more than a year ago to monetize print news content through copyright infringement lawsuits, has suffered a myriad of courtroom setbacks in recent months. Among them, it was sanctioned $5,000 for misleading a federal judge, ordered to pay $34,000 for an opponent’s legal fees (.pdf), and was told over and again by judges that it has no legal standing to even file the lawsuits.

With all those issues now on appeal, the litigation factory’s machinery is grinding to a halt. A review of court records shows Righthaven has not filed a new lawsuit in two months, after a flurry of about 275 lawsuits since its launch at the beginning of last year. A court filing indicates there have already been layoffs at Righthaven’s Las Vegas headquarters, and even some already-filed lawsuits are falling by the wayside, because Righthaven isn’t serving the defendants with the paperwork.

Righthaven chief executive Steve Gibson confirmed by telephone that his company has stopped filing new lawsuits, pending appellate rulings that could take months or even years to filter through the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

“It certainly seems to be prudent to see how all of these cases come out in the wash,” Gibson said, adding that he still reserves the right to file new lawsuits at any time.

Taken together, the setbacks suggest the business model employed by Righthaven has imploded on nearly every front — making it difficult to envision Righthaven copycats or a solid Righthaven future.

“The cases continue to show that their business model is not a viable business model,” said Kurt Opsahl, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has opposed Righthaven in court...

More on the demise of this ill-founded venture linked @ wired.com...

[Pandora]

Not a moment too soon.      Cretins, the lot of them.

[ToddF]

Why is that guy touching himself? 

[charlesoakwood]

Not a moment too soon.     Cretins, the lot of them.

They were bad for the internet, they were bad for print media.        


The movie industry swore the VCR would put them out of business, instead it created a new outlet for their crap.
If the print media were smart they would figure out a way to capitalize on the internet.  



No, the subscriber thing isn't it.

[warpmine]

 

[Libertas]

Ahh, that's too bad!

/

 

[LadyVirginia]

Not a moment too soon.     Cretins, the lot of them.

They were bad for the internet, they were bad for print media.        


The movie industry swore the VCR would put them out of business, instead it created a new outlet for their crap.
If the print media were smart they would figure out a way to capitalize on the internet. 



No, the subscriber thing isn't it.

Can't anyone learn from the past?

The publishing industry still doesn't know what to do and ebooks are here.  The internet is here. 

[trapeze]

Here's another article from the same source. This time it's about the Denver Post's owner, MediaNews dropping Righthaven altogether. MediaNews runs 50 papers. That's gonna hurt Righthaven's bottom line a bit.

“The issues about copyright are real,” Paton told Wired.com in a telephone interview. “But the idea that you would hire someone on an — essentially — success fee to run around and sue people at will who may or may not have infringed as a way of protecting yourself … does not reflect how news is created and disseminated in the modern world.”

“I come from the idea that it was a dumb idea from the start,” Paton added, noting that Righthaven was informed of the decision to end relations last month.

[jpatrickham]

The debris field after the Towers fell seemed insurmountable. The same could be said for what Liberals have done to this Nation since 2006. Ain't Bush's fault it is Liberals fault. Good Americans cleaned up the Debris Field after 9/11, and slowly but surely, Good Americans can and will, clean up the Debris Field left from Liberals.

[IronDioPriest]

Reeling from a squarely landed uppercut, Righthaven is about to receive a blind-side-kick to the temple. Lights out.

Righthaven Pleading For Mercy

[blockquote]Despite its backing by billionaire Arkansas investment banker Warren Stephens, copyright lawsuit filer Righthaven LLC of Las Vegas said Sunday it has been unable to secure a $34,045 bond to guarantee payment of a defendant’s attorney’s fees.

In an "urgent motion" filed Sunday with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, Righthaven asked the court to strike a Nevada judge’s order that it post the bond to ensure attorneys for copyright lawsuit defendant Wayne Hoehn get paid, should Righthaven lose its appeal in the Hoehn case.[/blockquote]

The article goes on to quote from Righthaven's filing, indicating that no bonding institution will issue the required bond, except for the full cash amount--which pretty well tells us that Righthaven is regarded as a poor credit risk by the bonding institutions.  When someone will only issue a $34,045 bond if you give them $34,045 in cash, that indicates that the bonders believe that you are going out of business, and soon.

Fortunately, if Righthaven goes bust, this does not let Stephens Media off the hook.  Stephens Media is being sued as well by victims of Righthaven's suits, and as I understand it, the incompetents who wrote the Righthaven/Stephens Media contract not only failed to actually grant Righthaven the actual copyright it needed to file the suits--but it also left Stephens Media at least half responsible for the consequences of Righthaven's action. My, a worst of both worlds contract: not enough ownership rights to win the copyright infringement suits, but enough liability that Stephens Media may get stuck with the bills for the damages that Righthaven caused.

I look forward to the day that Righthaven's CEO, Steve Gibson, is held personally liable for the actions of Righthaven, loses his fancy car, his home, and all of his other assets.  After all: that's what he was trying to do to others who innocently stumbled into the Righthaven scheme.  I can't think of a more deserving lawyer.

[trapeze]

Good times, good times.

Every once in a while evil is defeated, the bad guys take it in the shorts and the white hats win.

[Libertas]

Almost as funny as seeing HuffPo beg Yahoo to buy them!