The hammer's coming down on Righthaven, the so-called copyright infringement company known for suing 276 bloggers (to date) for alleged "copyright infringement" while trying to re-write the definition of "fair use." The big guns from big firms and non-profits are have Righthaven in their cross-hairs.
Most recently, Google jumped in the fray with a brief against the sagging firm.
But in 2010, bloggers couldn't figure it out. An east coast woman blogging about her cat found herself sued by Righthaven for quoting an Associated Press article.
Las Vegas, beginnings, Not so humble
Righthaven was the product of the thought process of Las Vegas attorney Steven Gibson – who partnered with Stephens Media, LLC owner of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Gibson's so-called brainchild was to re-write fair use. His method of doing so was to club bloggers quoting newspaper articles with lawsuits.
Making things awful was one of Righthaven's first clients was AP, Associated Press. Righthaven attorneys immediately began trolling the Internet in search of a line of AP text on a blog, or a newspaper owned by Stephens Media. Then, just like Emeril; Bam! Sued and served. Pay up.
The Denver Post jumped aboard, via their parent company, Media News Service, and the lawsuits were filed at a dizzying pace.
Initially, underfunded bloggers were pressured to pay attorneys between 5-10k to make the lawsuits go away.
It got gnarly. In my book review, "Lies Within Lies - The Betrayal of Judge Harry Claiborne" published by Stephens Media...I mentioned merely referencing my review on my own blog could open me up to a lawsuit by the very company who published the book and appreciated my review.
Gnarly.
Good news for bloggers
Judges understood the difference between fair use and copyright infringement. Righthaven found no judge to agree with them. Also, openly skeptical Las Vegas judges quickly ruled Righthaven had no standing in the cases they brought. To quote Rick Perry,
"Oops."
Colorado judges thought the same. Things haven't gone well for Righthaven ever since. Yet, they continue.
Righthaven's corporate structure can be viewed here.
Might want to archive it. If the rulings continue as before, Righthaven will be going out of business soon. To date Righthaven has collected anywhere from $362,500.00 to $461,000.00 from their 276 victim bloggers.
Factor in office space, salaries, and their own legal costs as Righthaven answers to the name, "Defendant" and in true "Are you smarter than a Fifth Grader" style, one quickly surmises Righthaven is simply not a sustainable business model.
Which is separate from being shot down in every court.
Fast forward
Righthaven use of heavy handed legal tactics against underfunded bloggers has resulted in revenues of roughly $1,313.00 a clip, which brings new meaning to the term, "clip joint." But that's changing as big-time attorneys from big time company's and non-profits jump in and bloggers are no longer intimidated.
More good news. The courts have ordered Righthaven pay $225,172.15 in sanctions and legal costs.
What happened to Steve Gibson, Righthaven's creator?
Gibson joined the Las Vegas office of Dickinson-Wright, and quite possibly is spending his time wondering about the Nevada State Bar's investigation of him and two other, former Righthaven attorneys.
MediaNews did not renew their contract with Righthaven.
Righthaven's process server - Legal Wings is suing them. Documents claim, "Plaintiff has made repeated demands for payment of the monies dues and owing on the Agreement, but the Defendant has failed and refused, and still fails and refuses to pay the balance owed to Plaintiff," says a new court action from Legal Wings." Oh yes. Legal Wings wants their $5,670.00. And yet...
Journalistic stupidity continues
Righthaven signed up via WEHCO Media, which owns The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and Chattanooga Times Free Press.
What are they smoking?
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