Eight More Righthaven Lawsuits Thrown Out; Judge Hicks Does Not Revive Standing Issue

UPDATE 03/02/12: Another day and another ruling against Righthaven from U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks, who dismissed two more lawsuits Friday due to lack of standing: Jeffery Nelson and Hush-Hush Entertainment Inc. and codefendants PN Media Inc. and Andrew Stoddard. Separately, U.S. Magistrate Judge Peggy Leen ordered Righthaven to show cause by March 16th why it should not be sanctioned and held in contempt of court (motion granted to attorneys representing Thomas DiBiase).

03/01/12:
Eight More Righthaven Lawsuits Dismissed

Las Vegas copyright lawsuit filer Righthaven LLC struck out again in court on Thursday when a federal judge in Reno threw out eight more of its lawsuits...
Two of the Nevada judges who have not yet ruled on the standing issue, Hicks and Navarro, for months have kept Righthaven waiting for a decision. Both judges are presiding over multiple Righthaven cases.

U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks ruled on the standing issue Thursday, and he did so by throwing out eight cases. The cases include: Chris Brown Web Network, Fullthrottletv.net, Wehategringos.com, Charles Coker, Gunner’s Alley LLC, Computer Services One LLC, John Kirk and Bob Sieber (May each of your personal lives and businesses finally move on from the "legal terrorism" inflicted by Righthaven!). The remaining Nevada judge to rule on the standing issue is Gloria Navarro.

See: VEGAS INC article in full

November 2011 Righthaven Victims

Lawsuit count: Nov (0), Oct (0), 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.

October 2011 Righthaven Victims

Lawsuit count: Oct (0), 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.

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.

August 2011 Righthaven Victims

Lawsuit count: 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.

Including Codefendants, There May be 500 Righthaven Victims; Codefendant Sends Mail

There is an accurate count of lawsuits filed by Righthaven (275)[1]; an accurate count of funds owed by Righthaven ($8,815) and an estimated count of funds seized by Righthaven ($350,000). There is not, however, a count of the actual number of persons sued in these lawsuits. In many cases, Righthaven names two or more persons in a lawsuit. Though there are unknowns, basic math after reviewing our internal spreadsheet shows an estimated 500 Righthaven victims.

A codefendant recently sent an email to Righthaven Victims alerting us to this overlooked fact. The Media Awareness Project (MAPinc.org) was part of the second lawsuit filed by Righthaven, the case against The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), first filed in March 2010. The source of the article in the lawsuit originated from MAPinc.org. After discovering this, Righthaven amended its lawsuit to include MAPinc and re-filed April 6, 2010 (No: 2:10-cv-0351-PMP).

The Media Awareness Project is a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit that has gathered newspaper, magazine and web articles about drug policy since 1995. At the time of the lawsuit, NORML was a client and was able to display articles on their website under the indicia that originated from the MAPinc archive. While many followers of the copyright trolling group Righthaven LLC know how the NORML case settled, many do not know that this settlement did not include MAPinc.

The Media Awareness Project is yet another modest nonprofit sued by Righthaven and was fortunate enough to secure pro bono legal representation from Ridder, Costa & Johnstone LLP, a San Francisco-based intellectual property law firm. MAPinc ultimately settled with Righthaven on July 8 and August 3, 2010. Having just contacted Righthaven Victims now -- a full year later -- clearly the pain and difficulty of the lawsuit, even with pro bono legal representation, has not been forgotten.

[1] According to Vegas INC, Righthaven has filed 275 copyright infringement lawsuits involving R-J and Denver Post content. There have been 276 lawsuits if one counts a case about sports betting material. The lawsuit filing number in no way reflects the actual number of persons sued by Righthaven who wind up with disrupted lives, increased health issues and drained savings accounts.

Righthavenlawsuits.com is Down -- Posting Links to Cached Pages Until Site Resurfaces

UPDATE: The site is back online. It is unknown why the account was suspended or even if it was suspended as this may have been a default message when something else was actually at issue.

It is unknown at what point between last night and this afternoon that the Righthavenlawsuits.com website account became suspended. Righthaven Victims will tolerate absolutely no downtime of this very important website, particularly while the smell of rat emanates from this curious situation.

Cached Pages

• Righthavenlawsuits.com: Home page
• Righthavenlawsuits.com: Articles page
• Righthavenlawsuits.com: Lawsuits page
• Righthavenlawsuits.com: Attorney page

July 2011 Righthaven Victims

Victim count: July (0), June (0), May (9), April (2), March (25), February (10) and January (34).

No new Righthaven victims were recorded for this month. At least one person was revictimized.

Former Righthaven Defendant Creates How-To Guide for Bloggers and Forum Board Operators

Michael Nystrom of DailyPaul.com

In a recent blog post, "Attn: Bloggers! Why You Need a DMCA Disclaimer & Copyright Registration," Michael Nystrom, the founder of DailyPaul.com and former Righthaven victim, explains the steps that bloggers and forum board operators should take in order to avoid a lawsuit from Righthaven and future copyright trolls. As Nystrom points out, though Righthaven is currently on the ropes, "someone else will come along and tighten up and improve on Righthaven's arguments and procedures."

Attn: Bloggers! Why You Need a DMCA Disclaimer & Copyright Registration

By Michael Nystrom
So, you've set up your blog or forum and it is totally awesome! You've created a platform for yourself, and/or a community where like-minded individuals can interact. You've spent uncounted hours researching the best software platform for your project, how to get your domain name, where to host your site, how to get traffic -- and keep it! Not to mention everything that goes into maintaining a community, and if you're lucky, how to monetize your efforts. Congratulations! Lots of people dream about hosting a website of their own - you've actually gone and done it. You've made a great contribution to this vast expanse of information known as the Internet, as well as to everyone who is touched by your website or community.
So don't let it all be threatened by neglecting a minor detail. Register it with the U.S. Copyright Office and put a DMCA disclaimer on your site. This is something I wish I knew before I got sued.

On Getting Sued
You do not ever want to get sued. Trust me. And even if your risk is small, it is something that you need to be aware of so that you can manage that risk properly. The purpose of this short article is to introduce you to some information that I wish someone had told me.

See: Blog post in full | See: Blog post after Nystrom's case was dismissed

We encourage forum board operators to a post a link to Nystrom's How-to Guide within the rules section of your forum so that readers and moderators can learn how to avoid a copyright infringement lawsuit. An additional step might be to educate new users -- in the New User Registration Agreement -- about how to correctly link to a news article. The Democratic Underground, also a former Righthaven defendant with exceptional legal help, uses the following language in their agreement:

Copyrights: Do not copy-and-paste entire articles onto this discussion forum. When referencing copyrighted work, post a short excerpt (not exceeding 4 paragraphs) with a link back to the original.

A special thanks to Michael Nystrom and DailyPaul.com for sharing this critical prevention guide and the Daily Paul's DMCA site disclaimer (two super fantastic freebies!). 

June 2011 Righthaven Victims

Victim count: June (0), May (9), April (2), March (25), February (10) and January (34).

No new Righthaven victims were recorded for this month.

Righthaven Victim Speaks Out: 'I Totally Recognize This is a Nonsense Troll Lawsuit'

My apology goes out to Righthaven victim Holly Brewer for this "mysteriously missing post." I managed to piece it back together through Google Cache searches. My internal records show that this post was created May 11 and back dated to May 10 to match the referring article's date. On Thursday May 12, Blogger.com (Google) suffered a substantial blow. It's likely this memorable post was lost then.
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May 10, 2011
Citadel Broadcasting Settles Righthaven Lawsuit

Holly L. Brewer was accused by Righthaven of posting without authorization a Review-Journal story on the hobby website tvclubhouse.com.
--snip--
"I totally recognize this is a nonsense troll lawsuit where they expect the defendants would rather just settle than fight. I hate the idea this is going to cost me time. But even worse I hate trolls like this and hope to see them get trounced and lose money from filing these papers," she said. "I hope there can be even more publicity so other victims won't roll over and pay these creeps."

See: Article in full

This article highlights a very sad truth: It is the little guys who are fighting Righthaven with guts and honor. The big guys (and well-funded), such as Citadel Broadcasting, Matt Drudge and Alex Jones, settle and move on. They have done nothing to advance fair use or First Amendment arguments. Such "lack of action" only works to keep Righthaven operational, suing more Holly Brewers.

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The post magically reappeared late Friday. Be careful of The Cloud readers!

Brian Hill and other Righthaven Victims Featured in the New York Times

Finally a major news organization writes about Righthaven and some of their victims including Brian Hill of North Carolina whose case was recently dismissed by Righthaven after a string of bad press stories over suing the mildly autistic blogger for alleged copyright infringement over the now infamous TSA image. Brian Hill recently reopened his alternative news site uswgo.com. Brian Hill's lawyer, David Kerr of Colorado, is now in the process of petitioning the Colorado District Federal Court to order Righthaven to pay his legal fees.

Read the Story in the New York Times: Enforcing Copyrights Online, for a Profit

It's good to see Brian Hill is still giving Righthaven major headaches.

Righthaven Commentary and News Sources

Righthaven Victims Who Are Publicly Commenting

• Defendant Donald Douglas: American Power
• Defendant Chuck Coker's Website: The Righthaven Shakedown Blog
• Defendant Michael Nystrom's Website: The Daily Paul
• Defendant Michael Leon's Website: MAL Contends
• Defendant Pam Spaulding's Website: Pam's House Blend

Bloggers & Legal

• ABA Journal
• AmericanJustice.org
• American Lawyer
• Bnet.com
• Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
• IP Brief
• Ken Bingham
• Overlawyered.com
• Righthavenlawsuits.com
• Wall Street Journal Law Blog

News Groups

• Ars Technica
• Bloomberg
• Denver Daily News
• Fortune
• Las Vegas Sun
• Mediapost.com
• PaidContent.org
• TechDirt
• VEGAS INC
• Wired

Please leave additional sources in comments.