Tick Tock, Gibson is Due in Court Today; Tick Tock, The Auction Counts Down

UPDATE: We heard through the grapevine later this evening that neither Gibson or his wife appeared in court today. The latest VEGAS INC article contains more information, including some words from one of the attorneys defending Wayne Hoehn, J. Malcolm DeVoy IV, of Randazza Legal Group. "You’d think members of the bar -- who are officers of the court -- would give the orders of the court greater weight," said DeVoy. The debtor's examination has been rescheduled for Monday morning.

It was noted in a December blog post that U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Johnston ordered Steve Gibson and his wife Raisha "Drizzle" Gibson to appear in court on January 5, 2012 to provide testimony under oath about the location of Righthaven's assets. Today is January the 5th and we are waiting on word of today's outcome.

Domain Name Auction is Over Tomorrow

In a separate blog post, it was noted that Righthaven's domain name auction (righthaven.com) was slated to run through tomorrow, January 6th at 2:15pm CST. Currently, the bid continues to sit at $1,900. The sale of the domain name hopes to raise money to cover part of the $60,000+ in legal fees owed to defendant Wayne Hoehn.

Defendants File Motion for Sanctions Against Righthaven Counsel Shawn Mangano

Defendants' Newsblaze LLC and Alan Gray filed a motion in federal court Tuesday asking the court to impose sanctions on Shawn Mangano, counsel for Righthaven LLC for "unreasonably and vexatiously multiplying the proceedings" in their case. The defendants say they bring the motion reluctantly, but believe Righthaven's litigation campaign in their case has gone "beyond zealous advocacy" and has become "vexatious, unnecessarily multiplicative, and purposely wasteful." Defendants ask the court to impose sanctions of $11,925.50 -- the amount of defendants' attorneys' fees since July 2011.

Though sought with great reservation, the facts of this case and Mangano’s conduct across numerous cases in this district cry out for the imposition of sanctions under 28 U.S.C. § 1927. Months after Righthaven’s lack of standing was determined by the Democratic Underground court and confirmed by at least six other decisions in this District, Righthaven’s counsel still requires defendants to litigate the same precluded issues, either seeking to create inconsistent precedent or punish assertive defendants who do not wish to settle. Whether this strategy was Mangano’s or Righthaven’s (to which Mangano acceded), it is ultimately Righthaven’s Counsel who decides what arguments are presented to the Court – and must bear the consequences of those actions.

See: Defendants' Motion for Sanctions Against Counsel
See: Related VEGAS INC article

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...
--snip--
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...
--snip--
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...
--snip--
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.