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.

Top Lawyers Ask To Be "Friends of Court" In Pivotal Case Against the Pahrump Life Blog

Lawyers Ask to Participate in Potentially Pivotal Copyright Case

Attorneys representing Righthaven defendant the Democratic Underground and another group of attorneys representing the Media Bloggers Association asked U.S. District Judge James Mahan in Las Vegas on Friday for permission for the Democratic Underground and the bloggers group to participate as friends of the court in the Pahrump Life case.
They sought to participate by filing briefs and potentially appearing at Pahrump Life hearings.

See: Article in full

Related posts:
Judge Doubts Righthaven's Right to Sue; Orders Righthaven to Show Cause (Again)
The Media Bloggers Association Intervenes on Behalf of Righthaven Defendant

Righthaven Challenges Lawsuits; Updates on Multiple Cases

The Las Vegas Sun provides updates on a number of cases that Righthaven is challenging, including: Bill Hyatt (and the Media Bloggers Association's attempted intervention), the Democratic Underground, message-board poster Wayne Hoehn, blogger Dana Eiser, pro se defendant Thomas Neveu and Christopher Malley. The copyright trolling group also faces a hearing this week concerning the Center for Intercultural Organizing. In November, U.S. District Judge James Mahan ordered Righthaven to show cause why its lawsuit against the center shouldn't be dismissed on fair use grounds.

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.