Judge Navarro Declines to Dismiss Case Against Canadian-Based MajorWager

Righthaven Gets Legal Win in Copyright Lawsuit Campaign

For purposes of the motion for dismissal, Navarro rejected MajorWager's argument that Righthaven lacked standing to sue because it didn't own the copyright to the story at the time of the infringement. Righthaven finds infringements, obtains copyrights to those stories from the Review-Journal and then sues over the infringements on a retroactive basis.
"The plaintiff’s complaint ... provides enough evidence for the court to reach a plausible inference that rights to the article as well as past infringements were transferred to plaintiff. Absent any other evidence to the contrary, the assignor (Review-Journal owner Stephens Media LLC) appears to have successfully transferred the ownership interest..."

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Settlement: Four More Defendants Reach Settlements; Rule 26(f) Discussed

Attorneys Accuse Righthaven of Settlement Shakedown

In the case of Canadian defendant MajorWager, Lewis and Roca attorneys Nikkya Williams, Michael McCue and Jonathan Fountain wrote in a recent filing: "Notwithstanding the likelihood that the court will soon rule on MajorWager's motion to dismiss, Righthaven is insisting that the parties proceed with a Rule 26(f) conference, which, of course, would trigger the deadline for making initial disclosures and commencing discovery."
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The latest publicly-disclosed settlements involve defendants:
Swadeep Nigam
Rawguru Inc.
Dan Cirucci
The Above Network

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Defense: 'Rights of Reversion' and Champerty Explained

Attorneys Attack Review-Journal Copyright Suit Arrangement

"All of the rights Stephens Media assigns to Righthaven are 'subject to the assignor’s rights of reversion,' which are not specified anywhere in the assignment. This raises serious questions about what rights Righthaven actually has to sue (the Vote for the Worst) defendants and those similarly situated, as it could be paying Stephens Media for the bare right to sue for copyright infringement, with those rights reverting back to Stephens Media once Righthaven has recovered a settlement or judgment from the affected defendants. In fact, the wording of the purported transfer seems to indicate that the sole purpose of assigning the copyrights is to give Righthaven technical legal standing to pursue infringements on rights that, in all actuality, still belong to Stephens Media. Such arrangements are prohibited as champertous under Nevada law," the attorneys [Lewis and Roca] wrote.

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Jonathan Fountain of Lewis and Roca LLP Explains Defenses in Recent Article

Jonathan Fountain is one of at least four Lewis and Roca attorneys in Las Vegas that have represented Righthaven defendants in litigation and settlements. Fountain recently wrote an opinion article that was published in Lexology.com, Las Vegas startup sues websites: copyright trolls and the rise of the internet police (registration required). Fountain discusses a variety of defenses, including: subject matter jurisdiction, personal jurisdiction, fair use, implied license the de minimis doctrine, champerty and barratry.

Some defendants have suggested the existence of an implied license because the Review-Journal posts its news stories on its webpage where they can be viewed for free, displays links that allow persons who view its articles to save, email, or print the articles, and also allows visitors to its site who view its articles to right-click and copy the articles when technical measures are available to prevent the articles from being copied. These defendants have also pointed out that the Review Journal does not post any terms or conditions on its website stating that copying articles is forbidden.

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See: Related Las Vegas Sun article

Defense: 'Implied License' May Have Merit

Righthaven Judge: Review-Journal ‘Implied License’ Defense May have Merit

But perhaps of more importance, Navarro sided with Lewis and Roca attorneys Michael McCue and Nikkya Williams, who argued one reason for setting aside the default was that Klerks may have meritorious defenses to the copyright infringement allegations of Righthaven...
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Navarro in her ruling wrote: "The defendant has reasonably asserted that the plaintiff’s conduct may have constituted an implied license and that the defendant may have properly inferred that the (copyright) owner consented to the use, especially in light of the established and accepted custom of users freely and openly sharing certain information posted on the Internet."

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Related article:
09/20/10: Judge Says Blogger Sued By Righthaven Might Have Fair-Use Defense