Five More Righthaven Copyright Lawsuits Dismissed for Lack of Service

UPDATE 08/22/11: Over the weekend, VEGAS INC reported that one more case, the lawsuit against Sevvan Franks, was dismissed after Righthaven failed to serve the defendant on time. The same article stated that on Friday, U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson dismissed Righthaven’s lawsuit against Bill Hyatt. Back in February, The Media Bloggers Association intervened in Hyatt's case after the defendant defaulted. This is the seventh case dismissed due to lack of standing since June 14.

08/18/11
Five Righthaven Suits Dismissed for Lack of Service

As a mass copyright lawsuit filer, Righthaven LLC of Las Vegas continues to struggle to actually prosecute many of the lawsuits it files.
That was illustrated this week when five Righthaven lawsuits in Las Vegas were dismissed after the company failed to show it had served the defendants by the deadlines set in each case. These bring to six the number of such dismissals since July 20.

See: Related VEGAS INC article

Each case was dismissed without prejudice and can re-filed if Righthaven chooses. Defendants included: Duncan Shields, John Lundberg and Mark Pilkington, Peter May-Ostendorp, Lisa Vinci (the case against codefendant Inform Technologies Inc. was dismissed earlier) and Bob G. Bell.

VEGAS INC Reports on Waiting Game; Updates on Numerous Righthaven Lawsuits

Judges Still Weighing Key Righthaven Cases

U.S. District Judge James Mahan in Las Vegas on Friday canceled a hearing set for Monday on the issue and rescheduled it for June 30. That will accommodate the schedules of the attorneys and provide time for more briefs to be filed in the case involving the Pahrump Life blog – a case in which Mahan has said it appears Righthaven doesn’t have standing to sue over a story that appeared in the Review-Journal.
--snip--
In this case, against Leland Wolf and the It Makes Sense Blog, the lone Colorado judge handling the Righthaven cases, Senior U.S. District Judge John L. Kane, is expected to decide if Righthaven has standing to sue under its lawsuit contract with the Post and its owner MediaNews Group.
(Righthaven has agreed to provide the MediaNews Group contract)

See: Article in full

Case updates include: Pahrump Life, Leland Wolf, Dana Eiser, Michael Leon, Denise Nichols, Brian Hill, Thomas DiBiase, Wayne Hoehn, Dean Mostofi, Pak.org, Bill Hyatt and The Law Med Blog.

From The Law Med Blog:

The Law Med Blog can state without hesitation that should the lawsuit filed be served, Law Med will NOT enter into a settlement but will file an answer and any motions, counterclaims, etc. that are warranted and avail itself of all legal avenues and remedies in its defense. We will not simply soil ourselves and take out our checkbook because a ‘big scary lawsuit’ has been filed. We are fortunate to have the knowledge and resources that allow us to see this for what it is and exert our rights under the law to successfully defend against it. The outrage is that other defendants do not…and Righthaven counts on that fact when targeting them.

Kudos to The Law Med Blog!

The Media Bloggers Association Intervenes on Behalf of Righthaven Defendant

National Bloggers’ Group Intervenes in Copyright Lawsuit Campaign

A national bloggers’ group intervened in the Righthaven LLC newspaper copyright infringement lawsuit campaign Wednesday, urging a federal judge not to reward Righthaven for what the bloggers call its “get-rich-quick scheme.”
The Media Bloggers Association filed a friend of the court brief in one of the Righthaven lawsuits, urging a Nevada federal judge to award only minimal damages — if any — and no attorney’s fees to Righthaven against a defaulting defendant.

See: Article in full | Read: Amicus Brief in full

Excerpts from the Amicus Brief

The vast majority of the victims of this scheme are under the impression that by giving proper attribution to a source, they are within their rights to use such excerpts. Almost none of them could ever afford legal representation; flummoxed by the threat of a $150,000 potential statutory damage award – an amount that it can safely be said none of them could dream of satisfying...
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Phony “assignments” are not the only venal and manipulative aspects of the Righthaven scheme. By design, Righthaven sues mostly retirees who, terrified of losing their retirement savings, generally settle their cases quickly and without discovery...
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Without revealing exactly what exclusive rights Righthaven has acquired in the works, if acquiring any at all, Righthaven essentially buys the bare right to sue for copyright infringement – which purchase is banned by copyright law – and uses it to sue small website operators by the hundreds...
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In every Righthaven case, Righthaven discovered a small website or blogger’s use of an article – which very well may have been fair use – and then claimed to acquire the story’s rights, followed by a copyright registration and federal lawsuit. This case follows the same formula...
--snip--
Righthaven’s agreements with Stephens Media include a mysterious “right of reversion” that allows whatever rights Righthaven does acquire to revert back to Stephens Media under circumstances unspecified in the parties’ written agreement. This raises serious questions as to whether Righthaven truly owns the copyright at all...
--snip--
Righthaven’s business model is simple, cynical, and ethically questionable. Righthaven finds instances of infringement relating to newspaper articles and pictures of essentially trivial economic value on blogs and other small websites without significant readership, advertising or other resources...
--snip--
This model, if sustained by law and emboldened by this Court granting Righthaven the damages it seeks, poses a singular and unique threat to Amicus’ membership. The interests of bloggers acting under Amicus’ umbrella will be adversely affected by any award of damages granted to an entity that collects illusory copyright rights for the sole purpose of litigation...

These excerpts do not reflect the thoughtful and informative depths of this 22-page document, but do provide insight into Righthaven's shocking predatory lawsuits.

Default Judgment Motion Filed by Righthaven; Cash and Domain Name Demanded

Righthaven Files First Judgment Motion, Demands Cash and Domain Name

Righthaven has now for the first time asked a federal judge to convert one of those clerk defaults into a monetary judgment and to award it the defendant's website domain name.
The case involves Bill Hyatt, who was sued in U.S. District Court for Nevada on Oct. 6 after Righthaven said a Review-Journal entertainment column was posted on Hyatt's website 1ce.org -- a WordPress blog called "News for Everyone."

See: Article in full

Righthaven defendants have choices, even if most of them are unpleasant. Defaulting, however, should be avoided at all costs.