OT: Righthaven on, "life support."

[allometry]

Following up on a string of forum topics I've covered in the past, Righthaven looks to be on the losing end (financially) of their copyright trolling on internet blogs and forums like The Lobo Lair.

Righthaven, which was founded more than a year ago to monetize print news content through copyright infringement lawsuits, has suffered a myriad of courtroom setbacks in recent months...

A review of court records shows Righthaven has not filed a new lawsuit in two months, after a flurry of about 275 lawsuits since its launch at the beginning of last year...

Righthaven’s chief executive, Steve Gibson, confirmed in a telephone interview that his company has stopped filing new lawsuits...

http://arst.ch/qsw

Visit Ars for the rest of the story. They've done a really, really, good job of covering Righthaven and the nightmare scenario they've inflicted on innocent guys like Mark just trying to run a chat site for Lobo and sports enthusiasts.

[Bullchuter]

Hopefully...They (Righthaven) gets their cookies crunched!!!!! They seem to be the poster child for the AOA (A-holes of America)

[MRLobo]

Righthaven CEO looks like a douche. Sorry lol but he does.

[loboray]

Don't forget the part that newspapers like the LVRJ have played in all this. They allowed Righthaven to sue on their behalf.

[muyguapo]

Glad to see them go down, but be forewarned, I've no doubt someone will look at where their model went wrong, tweak it, and try something similar in the future.......the newspapers still want to enforce old school non-net copyright stuff on the net, so I doubt we have really heard the last of this idea....just the last of Righthaven, for now, couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of bastards.

[Garishwolf]

Karma comes for the thugs.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=343165

[MWCfan]

Gee! Righthaven is drowning! Somebody throw them an anchor.

[LaVidaLobo]

Wronghaven.

[LIDOakaLJT]

Quick! Somebody pull the plug......NOW!!!!

[judas_priest]

It is not a question of tweaking the business model - it will be necessary to find a whole new one. These guys got taken down on so many counts that anybody who tries to start up again had better be able to show why they are completely different - there is about to be major precedent that says not only is this no valid, it is grounds for a counter suit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champterous

Also search for "Barratry"

[pitboss]

Don't forget the part that newspapers like the LVRJ have played in all this. They allowed Righthaven to sue on their behalf.

Stevens Media....ie The Las Vegas Journal, Capitalized Righthaven's founding with a $500M investment!

Pitboss

[judas_priest]

Stevens Media....ie The Las Vegas Journal, Capitalized Righthaven's founding with a $500M investment!

Pitboss

Excuse me, but that was $500 K, not $500 M.

[mdanger007]

A federal judge in Colorado Wednesday dismissed several Righthaven cases brought in the state AND ordered them to reimburse the defendant for legal fees. Judge John Kane's opinion:

...(Righthaven) derives its sole economic benefit by instituting claims of infringement, a course of action which necessarily limits public access to the copyrighted work. This prioritizes economic benefit over public access, in direct contradiction to the constitutionally mandated equilibrium upon which copyright law is based

[pitboss]

Excuse me, but that was $500 K, not $500 M.

My bad! $500K is bad enough!

Pitboss

[mikexom]

You know I'd pee on Righthaven's CEO if his hair wasn't on fire......

[wallyhopp]

I read that it appears most who settled can't get their settlement money back. Even though the very fact they had no standing to sue in the first place.. Sounds like a big o'l scam.

[mikexom]

Well once you settle, you don't get to ask for refunds....the idea of settling is that you are paying money in exchange for not getting hassled, whether the other party has a legitimate case or not.