After entering judgment against Righthaven, Hunt issued the declaratory judgment on Friday. That was after Stephens Media did not contest a finding of fair use for the Democratic Underground.This is very interesting. A lawyer that I know has been waiting for the chance to sue Stephens Media for what Righthaven did, in falsely claiming to own the copyrights. This is going to hurt.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Stephens Media Gets Stuck With the Bill
Righthaven is pretty much out of business, and clearly out of money. But Judge Hunt has found that Stephens Media (part-owner of Righthaven) can be held liable for the legal fees of its victims. From Steve Green at Vegas Inc.:
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Couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of people.
ReplyDeleteInteresting developments. Sham assignments of copyright, dismissal of the Plaintiff as not the real party in interest, "Righthaven – which is not a law firm – was doing Stephens Media’s bidding in court in exchange for a cut of lawsuit winnings." As I recall from first year law school, that is either champerty or barratry, both frowned on in the American legal system.
ReplyDelete"Righthaven’s standard lawsuit demand that defendants forfeit their website domain names to Righthaven."
Want us and this case to go away? Spend tens of thousands of dollars or go out of business. You might lose and do both, so quit now. for fair use quotations. This is worse than the extortion by the Trevor Law Group, which about 10 years ago were extorting settlements from small businesses for Unfair Business Practices claims under California's Private Attorney General statute. Why aren't the lawyers associated with this stain on the reputation of lawyers everywhere up before the State Bar/Bars?
I'm sure it's unChristian to feel as much schadenfreude as I am right now...
ReplyDeleteOh, to think that every Righthaven suit could have been beaten by asking for a bill of sale for the copyright in question....
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