RightHaven Lawyer Says Browser Ate His Homework 91
J053 writes "Wired Magazine reports that Righthaven attorney Shawn Mangano's excuse for being a day late with his explanation as to why the litigation factory made 'dishonest statements to the court' was that his web browser upgraded and he could no longer attach PDF files to his submissions. Yeah, right ..."
That's why the judge is so p***ed off (Score:5, Informative)
Righthaven was suing for copyright, when they weren't the owners of the copyrighted material. You can't "hive off" the right to sue to a 3rd party like Righthaven. Righthaven lacked standing, and should have known they lacked standing (after all, if you're a bunch of lawyers suing over copyrights, you should at least know copyright law, right?)
The way each suit should have proceeded was that the rights-holders hire Righthaven to sue on their behalf; this makes things harder for Righthaven in court, since then they rights-holder has to be involved at every step - something that drives up the cost of each suit. Righthaven wanted to do this stuff in bulk, un its own name, without crossing each T and dotting each I, and it doesn't work that way.
Then there was the sloppy casework ...
The judge was not amused at what looks like a fraud upon the court, and has been kicking Righthaven in the nads ever since.
Re:Its your fault. (Score:4, Informative)
Powerpoint doesn't work? Its your fault. Didn't embed that YouTube video correctly? Its your fault. Your laptop can't talk to the projector? Its your fault. The Projector doesn't work? Its your fault. If you aren't professional enough to have your research paper backed up on a thumbdrive, a second laptop for your group presentation, or even /gasp!/ a paper copy, ITS YOUR OWN DAMN FAULT.
Welcome to being a professional in the 21st century, where using technology is necessary, but knowing what to do when it fails is smart.
in the 20th century, you had to k ow how to change the build in an overhead, brought transparencies (your "slide deck") as a backup to PowerPoint in case the laptop or projector died (and had someone flip through the slides as you went so they were current if you needed them) and brought hardcopy.
It's always been YOUR OWN DAMN FAULT.
As a side note, when I did a presentation in our MBA's presentation seminar (how to do a presentation) the lecturer was surprised when, after he said, "the projector build just went out - what do you do?" I turned of the overhead, opened the top, slide the bulb select lever and turned it back on and went on. I think he was disappointed that I ruined his "teaching moment" by not being a moron, though I guess moron / MBA is considered redundant on /.). I learned early on in my career to get there in time to see how the projector work, where the light and thermostat controls are so you are ready when it's showtime.