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"Never had standing to sue, Ninth Circuit confirms." http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/05/copyright-troll-righthaven-finally-completely-dead/

The Righthaven LLC copyright lawsuit saga will continue indefinitely after a judge on Wednesday blocked efforts to have Righthaven's CEO fired and its appeals canceled. Righthaven is known for filing 275 no-warning lawsuits in 2010 and 2011 in partnership with the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Denver Post. As a company, as opposed to being a law firm, Righthaven had acquired copyrights from the newspapers for lawsuit purposes. It sued individuals, companies and nonprofits it claimed infringed on the copyrights by posting content from the newspapers online without authorization. The company essentially shut down last year after judges in three...

Las Vegas copyright lawsuit company Righthaven LLC suffered another setback Wednesday when an appeals court dismissed one of its appeals. The dismissal was requested by the nonprofit Center for Intercultural Organizing (CIO) in Portland, Ore., which won a key fair-use ruling last year against Righthaven. The dismissal was granted Wednesday by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which cited case law that appeared to back arguments by the CIO that Righthaven could no longer participate in the case since creditors had seized the copyrights it sues over. In layman’s terms, the CIO argued Righthaven no longer...

Righthaven LLC founder Steven Gibson insisted Monday he remains in charge of the Las Vegas company and asked a judge to block efforts to fire him as CEO. Gibson filed papers in federal court in Las Vegas challenging recent actions by Lara Pearson, a Lake Tahoe-area attorney appointed by the court last year to take control of Righthaven assets and to sell them for the benefit of creditors.

A Virginia nonprofit is asking for donations to cover the $30,000 it spent successfully fighting a Righthaven LLC copyright infringement lawsuit. The Virginia Citizens Defense League Inc. (VCDL), a gun rights group in Newington, Va., was sued by Las Vegas-based Righthaven in September 2010.

Attorneys say the owner of the Las Vegas Review-Journal should be required to pay $774,683 in legal fees for what critics call a failed ''shakedown'' copyright infringement lawsuit that threatened the free speech rights of a political website. The attorneys represent the Democratic Underground, a website that defeated Righthaven LLC, the R-J’s copyright enforcement partner, in one of Righthaven’s copyright infringement lawsuits. If attorneys for the Democratic Underground have their way, the family of Arkansas investment banking billionaire Warren Stephens will be paying their fees for two reasons:

Righthaven LLC’s financial position appears to have deteriorated further: For the second year in a row, the Las Vegas company's state business license has expired and now it’s listed in default. Records at the Nevada Secretary of State’s office, which handles incorporation matters, show Righthaven’s business license expired Jan. 31. The development indicates the copyright infringement lawsuit filer either can’t or won’t come up with the $200 needed to reactivate the license. A request for comment was placed with Righthaven on the issue. This is just the latest symptom of financial problems at Righthaven, where a creditor is trying to...

Almost missed this one, but Eric Goldman alerts us to the dozen comments filed with the US Copyright Office concerning its plan to force everyone to keep re-registering their official DMCA agent in order to keep retaining the DMCA's safe harbors. As we've discussed in the past, in order to make use of the DMCA's safe harbors, you have to register an official DMCA agent with the Copyright Office. In fact, we've suggested that anyone running a blog or forum site do exactly that. Many of the companies that were successfully sued by Righthaven (before it was discovered Righthaven didn't...

Copyright lawsuit filer Righthaven LLC of Las Vegas faced more problems Monday after a federal judge granted a defendant’s motion that Righthaven be placed under control of a receiver and that its copyrights be auctioned off, giving it nothing to sue or appeal over. U.S. District Judge Philip Pro granted the motion made by attorneys for defendant Wayne Hoehn, who said a receiver was needed to run the company and that its assets should be auctioned. That was after Righthaven failed to pay their attorney’s fees and U.S. Marshals were unable to round up enough Righthaven assets to cover their...

It’s an effort already rejected by one judge, but Righthaven LLC of Las Vegas is trying again to avoid paying the legal fees of defendants that defeat Righthaven in court. In court filings Saturday in Denver, Righthaven asked Senior U.S. District Judge John Kane to put six of its copyright infringement cases there on hold, rather than dismissing them on a summary judgment basis.

In what is becoming a well-settled pattern, Righthaven again finds itself on the losing end of a motion, with its case thrown out and owing the defendant – here, Leland Wolf, proprietor of the It Makes Sense Blog – costs and attorneys' fees for bringing a baseless copyright case. The lawsuit, Righthaven v. Wolf, is also notable for being the leading case among more than 50 that were filed in Colorado. Pending a motion to dismiss, the Colorado court stayed the remaining cases. With this ruling, the court has hopefully rung the death knell for the other remaining live cases...

Copyright troll Righthaven's flawed business model—suing hundreds of bloggers and small websites for dubious cases of alleged copyright infringement of newspaper articles—appears to be grinding to an inexorable finish. But even as the Righthaven cases prove that litigation isn't going to magically make print media profitable in the age of the Internet, a new generation of journalists and creators are adapting to the digital world—including one of Righthaven's former clients. Last week, reports were circulating that Righthaven was on "life support" after admitting that they aren't currently filing more lawsuits and are apparently teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. Even...

Despite its backing by the billionaire Warren Stephens family, Las Vegas copyright lawsuit filer Righthaven LLC warned today it may have to file for bankruptcy because of a series of setbacks in its litigation campaign. The warning came in an emergency request by Righthaven to a federal judge in Las Vegas that he stay his order that Righthaven pay $34,045 in legal fees to attorneys who successfully defended Kentucky message board poster Wayne Hoehn against a Righthaven lawsuit. Righthaven has already appealed U.S. District Judge Philip Pro’s fee award to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Righthaven is also...

In yet another stunning reversal for Las Vegas copyright lawsuit filer Righthaven LLC, the company won’t be collecting any damages from a man it once branded as a copyright infringer. Instead, it’s Righthaven that must pay the man's legal fees of $34,045. U.S. District Judge Philip Pro awarded the fees Monday in the case of Kentucky message board poster Wayne Hoehn. Pro on June 20 dismissed Righthaven’s lawsuit against Hoehn, finding Righthaven didn’t have standing to sue him and even if it did, Hoehn was protected by the fair use doctrine in posting an entire Las Vegas Review-Journal column on...

The copyright infringement lawsuit campaign of Righthaven LLC of Las Vegas faces new attacks by three defendants. Since March 2010, Righthaven has filed 274 federal lawsuits alleging online copyright infringement of material from the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Denver Post. Righthaven’s no-warning lawsuit campaign has been marred by three fair use losses since October, as well as rulings last month throwing out four lawsuits on a standing issue and a judge’s threat of sanctions against Righthaven over alleged misrepresentations.

A Kentucky man did not infringe on a copyright when he posted an entire Las Vegas Review-Journal column on a message board without authorization, a federal judge ruled today. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Philip Pro in Las Vegas on fair use grounds is the third fair use loss for Righthaven LLC, which sues over Las Vegas Review-Journal and Denver Post material. Earlier losses over Review-Journal material involved entire and partial R-J stories. Pro today dismissed a Righthaven lawsuit against Wayne Hoehn on grounds that Righthaven lacks standing to sue over Review-Journal material, as already determined by another federal...

A federal judge in Las Vegas today issued a potentially devastating ruling against copyright enforcer Righthaven LLC, finding it doesn't have standing to sue over Las Vegas Review-Journal stories, that it has misled the court and threatening to impose sanctions against Righthaven. Because he found Righthaven doesn't have standing to sue, Chief U.S. District Judge for Nevada Roger Hunt dismissed Righthaven's copyright infringement lawsuit against the Democratic Underground.

A federal judge in Colorado today said there are serious questions about the validity of the Righthaven LLC/Denver Post copyright infringement lawsuits there, and he put them all on hold. Senior U.S. District Judge John Kane in Denver said in orders filed in the cases that because of challenges to Las Vegas-based Righthaven’s standing to sue there over Denver Post material, he wants to resolve that issue before proceeding. "Because there are serious questions as to whether my exercise of subject matter jurisdiction over Righthaven’s claim of copyright infringement is proper, I think it most prudent to stay the proceedings...

Las Vegas newspaper copyright enforcement company Righthaven LLC’s standing to file lawsuits is being challenged again, this time in Colorado. Righthaven since March 2010 has filed 274 lawsuits alleging copyright infringement against website operators, bloggers and message board posters. It sues over Las Vegas Review-Journal and Denver Post material. Its standing to sue is under attack in several cases and U.S. District Judge James Mahan in Las Vegas has said that under its lawsuit contract with the Review-Journal, Righthaven does not appear to have standing to sue. Mahan has rescheduled until next month a hearing on that issue. Defense attorneys...

One year ago, U.S. newspapers and broadcasters could feel confident they controlled the news content they created. It was understood that competing and special-interest websites couldn't appropriate that content and post it without authorization. When such infringements occurred, they were dealt with swiftly and effectively with a simple phone call or email. Infringing websites typically had re-posted material out of ignorance they were violating the Copyright Act and agreed to remove the material or replace it with a link to the source newspaper or broadcaster. Then along came Righthaven LLC of Las Vegas, the self-appointed protector of the newspaper industry...