Righthaven Defies Court In Domain Name Ruling

Hugh Pickens writes "Copyright troll Righthaven makes their money by coercing defendants of alleged copyright infringement into settling with them with threats of $150,000 in damages and forfeiture of the defendants' website domain names. Now EFF reports that Chief Judge Hunt of the federal court in Nevada, which is overseeing more than 200 Righthaven copyright cases, has dismissed Righthaven's merit-less claim to seize its victim's domain names. Righthaven contended that the mere hosting of any infringing material meant that the entire domain name was forfeit but the judge rejected that claim, explaining that the 'Court finds that Righthaven's request for such relief fails as a matter of law and is dismissed.' But now Righthaven has filed a new copyright case in Nevada federal court that not only demands forfeiture of the domain name but has asked the Court to 'order the surrender to Righthaven of all hardware, software, electronic media and domains, including the Domain used to store, disseminate and display the unauthorized versions of any and all copyrighted works.' The new complaint also asserts that Righthaven holds the 'exclusive rights' to Stephens Media news articles, despite the Strategic Alliance Agreement showing that Stephens Media retains these rights."

Proof Positive

[Moryath]

The fact that "Righthaven" are even allowed into court any more, in any jurisdiction, is proof positive that the justice system is broken.

Where's the 3-strikes law for shitty lawyers?

[Zeek40]

Seriously, they need to start disbarring lawyers who repeatedly bring these meritless lawsuits to court. That's the only thing that's going to stop them from continuing to use the legal system as their own personal slot machine.

Re:Where's the 3-strikes law for shitty lawyers?

[thisnamestoolong]

This. We need tort reform in a big way. Lawyers and plaintiffs that bring frivolous lawsuits to court should have to repay the defendant for legal fees and lost wages. Heavy punitive damages should be levied against the bastards for abusing the court system. Lawyers who still don't get it ought to be disbarred permanently. That would end this in a hurry.

Re:Where's the 3-strikes law for shitty lawyers?

[dwillden]

Or just start actually enforcing the existing penalties for filing fraudulent suits and claims. Such penalties already exist, but getting the various state's to enforce them isn't always easy.

Thank You for Smoking

[repetty]

This reminds me of a bit of dialog from the movie "Thank Your for Smoking":

Joey Naylor: Dad, why is the American government the best government?
Nick Naylor: Because of our endless appeals system.

What plaintiffs like Righthaven don't get...

[bmo]

Is that the only thing that keeps people from shooting each other is the court system.

If you remove the trust that society places in the court system for dispensing significant amounts of justice, then courts are no longer the barrier between people with weapons.

Don't say it doesn't happen, because it happens all over the world.

Go ahead guys, keep abusing the system. First ones against the wall and all that.

I feel like I am living in France in 1788 and we are all arguing over mouldy bread and bad wine.

--
BMO

Re:Proof Positive

[causality]

No, of course not. It's entirely possible for someone to cry wolf 500 times, and then later suffer a legitimate injustice.

It's entirely possible for them to think about that prior to crying wolf 500 times.

It's entirely possible for them to be held up as an example to others, a warning against those who might feel inclined to similarly cry wolf.

Particularly when their crying wolf is not a matter that's just between themselves and the judge, but involves the legal intimidation of innocents. All of these strong-arm tactics are over a relatively trivial matter like unauthorized copying, not gang violence or warfare or impending catastrophe.

So now they are following the latest trend and trying to go after domains and equipment. They're following in the footsteps of what the government is doing in the name of safety and anti-terrorism, methods they no doubt admire. That's the latest escalation, then? Copyright cases need a "loser pays" system, where the loser of a case has to pay all of the opposition's legal expenses (perhaps times 1.5). Remove the profit from being a copyright troll and embolden the recipients of these threats to insist that the cases go to court. That's the best long-term solution to this kind of company. It also addresses the apparent rarity of such reasonable judges as this one.

Re:Proof Positive

[Svippy]

No, of course not. It's entirely possible for someone to cry wolf 500 times, and then later suffer a legitimate injustice.

Isn't the entire moral of Peter and the Wolf that you should not 'cry wolf' unless it is a legitimate issue, because then no one will care when it is real? Or did you miss that part?