Righthaven's Slow Motion Implosion Continues; 'Superstar' Litigator Withdraws from Cases

Top Copyright Litigator Withdraws from Righthaven Cases

Dale Cendali, one of the top U.S. copyright attorneys, made it clear Wednesday that she’s no longer representing struggling copyright enforcement company Righthaven LLC of Las Vegas ... Cendali, who signed on to represent Righthaven in a couple of cases last year as it struggled to beat back challenges to its lawsuits, hasn’t been heard from in months in relation to Righthaven.

News about "superstar" litigator Dale Cendali is a longtime in the coming. No one understood as far back as September 2011 how Righthaven could pay Cendali, a partner at Kirkland and Ellis. According to PaidContent.org, Kirkland was one of the first firms where some New York partners "broke the $1,000-per-hour billing ceiling a few years back." There's still no word on Righthaven's other outside attorney, Shawn Mangano, -- withdrawing or otherwise -- who has been absent for weeks.

See: VEGAS INC article in full

Movement on the Righthaven.com Domain; Redacted Letter to Former Senator Dodd Posted

UPDATE: VEGAS INC reports that Boing Boing has identified the domain buyer as Stefan Thalberg of Zug, Switzerland. Thalberg has yet to issue a comment. The logo represents a "no jellyfish" symbol.

Blogger Bully Site Yanks MPAA's Chain in Poison-Pen Letter

The new owner of the domain name Righthaven.com, which until recently belonged to a notorious copyright troll, has used his purchase to openly mock the Motion Picture Ass. of America.
The website currently displays a heavily and ironically redacted open letter to MPAA chief Christopher Dodd, and lends support to yesterday's web-wide protest of the US Stop Online Piracy Act.
The SOPA blackout prompted sites including Wikipedia to go dark for a day.

See: The Register article in full

The letter has a logo as well (possibly "no parasites"). We've posted it below.

How Does the Internet Visually Interpret 'Righthaven'? An Experiment with SHED

This lovely and fun little website was brought to my attention today: Special Holiday Emergency Desk (SHED). What do you think we typed in? According to SHED, which appears to be a combination of Flash and Google Image Search technologies, Righthaven is interpreted by the Internet in the following way: a predictably ugly and malevolent troll. The domain name auction carries on.

Colorado Judge Dings Righthaven for Another $33,000 in 'Reasonable Attorney's Fees'

U.S. District Judge John Kane ordered Righthaven to pay attorney's fees to defendant Leland Wolf today in the amount of $33,148.35. Bond was set at $50,000. During comments by the court, attorney for Righthaven, Shawn Mangano, was admonished for his "lack of civility." Wolf is represented by Andrew Contiguglia, who was in court today, and Randazza Legal Group. Thus far, the Randazza group has helped round up fee awards for defendants Michael Leon, Wayne Hoehn and Leland Wolf.

See: Judge Kane's order in full

Deadline Passes: Defendant Again Asks Judge to Allow Seizure of Righthaven's Assets

UPDATE 11/1/11: A writ of execution was issued today by a federal court in Las Vegas against the "bizarre" copyright trolling group known as Righthaven. Nearly $30,000 in new attorneys' fees have been added to the original cost of legal fees owed to defendant Wayne Hoehn while his attorneys have battled to get the first $34,045 paid. Total legal fees owed by Righthaven now is $63,720.80.

YOU ARE THEREFORE COMMANDED to satisfy the said Judgment with interest and costs as provided by law and your costs and disbursements out of the personal property of said debtor ... Judgment Creditor/Plaintiff will identify to the U.S. Marshal or his representative assets that are to be seized to satisfy the judgment/order ... YOU ARE FURTHER COMMANDED if necessary, to turn over any property seized under this order to a third party custodian or to the plaintiff. The U.S. Marshal or his representative is authorized to use reasonable force in the execution ...

See: Writ of Execution in full
See: Related MAL Contends' blog post
See: Related Blogger Ken's blog post
See: Related VEGAS INC article
See: Related Ars Technica article

10/29/11
A new motion by attorneys for defendant Wayne Hoehn again asks the court to allow seizure of Righthaven's assets, as once again Righthaven has refused to either satisfy the fee award or post a bond for the amount owed by October 28, 2011. The legal filing was dropped just after the Friday deadline expired for Righthaven to pay defendant Wayne Hoehn $38,045.50 in legal fees. Earlier this month, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an "urgent motion" by Righthaven to stay these fees.

Righthaven has exhausted any benefit of the doubt that it could be afforded, and it is time for it to pay the consequences for its actions – starting with Hoehn’s lawful judgment plus the accrued costs and fees expended in the (so far) futile attempts to compel Righthaven to take this Court’s Orders seriously. These fees and costs are properly tacked on to the existing fee award.

See: Defendant's Second (Renewed) Motion for Writ of Execution
See: Related VEGAS INC article

September 2011 Righthaven Victims

Lawsuit count: Sep (0), Aug (0), Jul (0), Jun (0), May (9), Apr (2), Mar (25), Feb (10) and Jan (34). View a list of 2010 Righthaven victims.

No new Righthaven victims were recorded for this month.

The lawsuit count does not reflect the actual number of Righthaven victims, as many codefendants are also named in these "sham" copyright assignment lawsuits and suffer the same serious consequence.

Blogger Ken: MediaNews Group Will Not Renew Contract with Copyright Troll Righthaven

UPDATE 09/08/11: VEGAS INC has published an important update to the MediaNews Group announcement (See: Denver Post owner not renewing Righthaven contract after PR debacles). The article discusses the numerous PR blunders that likely led MediaNews to its decision, including "headaches" caused by defendants Brian Hill, Dana Eiser, Denise Nichols and Reporters Without Borders. The now broken relationship may have legal implications for 34 open Righthaven cases.

MediaNews Group Will Not Renew Contract with Righthaven

The Denver Post is reporting that MediaNews Group, its parent company along with the Salt Lake Tribune, will not be renewing their contract with the controversial drive-by litigation group Righthaven. According to the report MediaNews Group stopped working with them "some time ago."
--snip--
MediaNews Group’s relationship with Righthaven dealt almost exclusively with one image that of the TSA agent performing a patdown that became a symbol of the "Don’t touch my junk" movement. This image had gone viral because of the national debate over the enhanced pat-downs and both MediaNews Group and Righthaven thought they had a potential goldmine. They began suing bloggers by the scores including Matt Drudge of the Drudge Report. In the beginning most settled including Drudge until Righthaven made the fatal tactical mistake of suing a mildly autistic blogger from North Carolina.

See: Related blog post in full

The news comes just after opponents appealed again to a Colorado judge to end Righthaven lawsuits over Denver Post material. See related news article: Foes seek decisive ruling against Righthaven.