Judge has "serious questions" about Righthaven, halts all Colorado cases

[DainBramaged]

A federal judge has put every Righthaven copyright infringement lawsuit in the state of Colorado on hold.

Righthaven, the Las Vegas company that brings infringement lawsuits on behalf of newspapers like the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Denver Post, has sued 57 people (including an Ars Technica writer) in Colorado over a Post photo of an airport security patdown. Its tactics have been hugely controversial, since it sends no warning before filing suit, demands that it be given control over the infringing site's domain name, and threatens people with massive statutory damages unless they settle for a few thousand dollars. And Righthaven might not even control the copyrights over which it is suing.

Ever since a federal judge in Nevada forced the disclosure of the Righthaven operating agreement with Las Vegas Review-Journal publisher Stephens Media, defense lawyers have been on the attack. That's because the document only appears give Righthaven the power to sue over particular articles and images, while the “exclusive rights” available under US copyright law appear to be retained by the publisher.

The document governing Righthaven's agreement with the Post's publisher, MediaNews Group, has not yet been revealed, but defense lawyers expect that it contains a similar arrangement.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/05/judge-halts-every-righthaven-case-in-colorado.ars

[joeybee12]

1. The Review Journal is a right-wing rag...I'm sure they knew what they

were doing with that agreement...trying to stifle any free speech.

[Buns_of_Fire]

2. And, lest we forget, they also went after DU...

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/12/democratic-underground-responds-righthaven

[myrna minx]

3. K&R n.t

[damntexdem]

4. Hmm, "the disdain this Court apparently has for its perceived business model."

Can't you just imagine this coming instead from a defense filing for Murder, Incorporated? ;-)