Posted on 09/08/2011 10:19:43 AM PDT by CedarDave
Opponents of Las Vegas copyright lawsuit filer Righthaven LLC appealed again Tuesday to a Colorado judge to decisively end Righthaven’s lawsuits over Denver Post material.
Righthaven since March 2010 has filed 275 lawsuits alleging online infringement of Las Vegas Review-Journal and Post content.
The no-warning litigation campaign, unprecedented for the newspaper industry, hit a brick wall this summer when four Nevada judges ruled Righthaven lacked standing to sue over R-J material in seven cases. Righthaven -- which has also been hit with three fair use defeats -- last filed a lawsuit on July 13.
These rulings against Righthaven's standing to sue were based on Righthaven’s lawsuit contract with Review-Journal owner Stephens Media LLC – a contract the judges said left the R-J in control of the material at issue despite Righthaven’s claims of ownership for lawsuit purposes.
Righthaven critics say these rulings weren’t based on mere legal technicalities. Rather, they say Congress never intended for copyrights to be bartered for lawsuits as copyrights have a special place in the law encouraging and protecting the arts, expression and free speech.
Judges in Nevada, Colorado and South Carolina continue to consider whether additional Righthaven suits should be dismissed for the same reason – with Righthaven hoping one of the judges will uphold its right to sue under an amended lawsuit contract with Stephens Media.
U.S. District Judge John Kane in Denver has put 33 Righthaven cases on hold while he decides the standing issue over Post material.
(Excerpt) Read more at vegasinc.com ...
FYI Ping.
Hopefully there will a whopper of a class action, not just at them, but at their corporate sponsors, and most particularly at the *individuals* who bear responsibility for their barratry.(*)
(*) (n.) The practice of exciting and encouraging lawsuits and quarrels, which is an ethical violation possibly resulting in disbarment.
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