Today Righthaven LLC were yet again put in an embarrassing situation for jumping the gun on a law-suit without checking the facts. They sued Eriq Gardner, a journals from ARS TECHNICA, for a story he did on Righthaven's lawsuit against the Drudge Report. The problem is he used the court document filed by Righthaven as the source of the TSA image. Court documents are public records and are not subject to copyright. Once Eriq Gardner contacted Righthaven he was told his case had been dismissed with prejudice due to a "clerical mistake". More like COLOSSAL EPIC FAIL.
Again Righthaven's practice of suing first and asking questions later has come back to bite them. There are other cases such as the lawsuit against the Toronto Star that may be equally as dubious since the Toronto Star is an AP affiliate who may have been authorized to display the image.
This embarrassment should surely leave the Denver Post and Las Vegas Review Journal as well as their parent companies Stephens Media and Media News Group with red faces. Especially since this was against a fellow journalist. They should seriously reconsider their relationship and dump Righthaven. Their own reputations are at stake.
See: Related Las Vegas Sun article
See: Related TechDirt article
See: Related Ars Technica article
Righthaven LLC -- a bottom feeding legal outfit -- has teamed up with the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Denver Post to sue mom and pop websites, advocacy and public interest groups and forum board operators for copyright infringement. The strategy of Righthaven is to sue thousands of these website owners, who are primarily unfunded and will be forced to settle out of court.
 | To date Righthaven has been ordered to pay $323,138 in legal fees and sanctions. |  |
Ahahahahah! Gibson & Company are just not bright -- there are no two ways about it. Sham lawsuits; sham business set up and sham for brains!
ReplyDeleteRighthaven can't even dismiss cases properly, noting in today's filing that this was a "VOLUNTARY DISMISSAL OF ACTION WITHOUT PREJUDICE" even as the text of the filing read "VOLUNTARY DISMISSAL OF ACTION WITH PREJUDICE." (Dismissing a case with prejudice means it cannot be refiled.)
They are just like any school yard bully. Dumb as rocks and shrink when challenged. They are a laughing stock.
ReplyDeleteGotta wonder how it reflects on his future career. He's still got a great one if he chooses to pursue the aggressive debt collector route. Congress though, is trying to rein in such predatory practices. It will be interesting to see if Gibson ends up as a Las Vegas neon sign entity, "Cash Advance" or "We take Gold," as that's exactly where his prowess and mediocre intellect belongs. I do not wish this outcome upon the desperate or needy in Las Vegas or anywhere in the United States or the world.
ReplyDeleteHe's a bully all right. But at his core he's a full-fledged predator.
There are now contradictory reports. Righthaven says they didn't know they were suing a journalist but that contradicts their earlier assertion that they were suing him directly because Ars had a DMCA registration. So they knew that but they didn't know who they were suing? I have a feeling this is just the beginning of a widening scandal.
ReplyDeleteSince Righthaven is demanding the domain name of the victims then those that are counter-suing should demand the copyright "owned" by Righthaven.
ReplyDeleteThis could put a quick end to this nonsense.