I Wish Them Luck

I would love to see some lawyers at Righthaven sitting in a prison cell for fraud.  The March 4, 2011 Las Vegas Sun reports:

New evidence surfaced Friday in the Righthaven LLC lawsuits that attorneys say could undermine Righthaven’s entire copyright infringement lawsuit campaign over Las Vegas Review-Journal stories.

...


But in the counterclaim, EFF/Democratic Underground attorneys charged Righthaven and Stephens Media have been abusing copyright law and that “Righthaven does not rightfully own the copyright in question, in that the assignment was a sham designed solely to pursue litigation with rights being retained by Stephens Media.”

In Friday’s court filing, EFF attorneys suggested documents recently turned over to the EFF by Stephens Media back up their claim about the “sham” copyright assignment.

There was so much clearly improper about the Righthaven suits--clearly in violation of champerty doctrine (which is alive and kicking in Nevada, even in federal courts)--that I do not find it unlikely that Righthaven's little pack of lawyers will eventually end up in a heap of trouble.  But as with anything involving lawyers, it will cost a pile of money and heartache to their victims.

There are clearly days when the social costs of lawyers so exceed the social benefits that it seems clear that it is a profession that needs to be outlawed.  Require everyone to sue or defend themselves on their behalf.  If corporations had to send their CEO out to fight every legal battle, it could only be good.  I think you would be amazed how many sensible solutions would happen if the lawyers were simply removed from the mix.  Credit card companies would not be so willing to extend credit to people with bad credit histories, for example.