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Denver judge stays all Righthaven cases in Colorado
VEGASINC ^ | May 19, 2011 | by Steve Green

Posted on 05/19/2011 11:52:28 PM PDT by Jim Robinson

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 in all pending cases in this district in which Righthaven is the named plaintiff," Kane wrote in an order filed today. "Should I find that I lack subject matter jurisdiction over Righthaven’s claim of copyright infringement, it is likely that I will be required to dismiss all pending actions. A stay will best conserve the parties’ and the court’s resources pending resolution of this fundamental inquiry."

Of the 57 suits there, 22 have been settled or voluntarily dismissed under undisclosed terms. The other 35 are pending. In all, Righthaven has filed 274 lawsuits since March 2010 in Nevada, Colorado and South Carolina over content from the Post and the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

One of the cases to be put on hold is a class-action counterclaim filed against Righthaven this week.

Kane said the main case in which he’ll rule on the jurisdiction issue is that of Righthaven defendant Leland Wolf (itmakessenseblog.com), who was sued over a Denver Post TSA pat-down photo.

(Excerpt) Read more at vegasinc.com ...


TOPICS: Free Republic; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: copyright; copyrighttroll; righthaven

1 posted on 05/19/2011 11:52:33 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
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To: Jim Robinson

Good news. I wonder when the counter suits will begin to be filed. These are snakes, so I do not believe there will be discoverable “deep pockets”. I think it will be nice to make a lesson out of them.


2 posted on 05/19/2011 11:59:23 PM PDT by PA Engineer (Time to beat the swords of government tyranny into the plowshares of freedom.)
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To: Jim Robinson

LOL. Righthaven, not being the owner, apparently doesn’t have standing... therefore can’t suffer injury or harm.

Is that an, “ooops”?


3 posted on 05/20/2011 12:10:56 AM PDT by onyx (If you truly support Sarah Palin and want to be on her busy ping list, let me know!)
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To: Jim Robinson
Of the 57 suits there,...

One for each of the 57 states?

4 posted on 05/20/2011 1:23:06 AM PDT by South40 (Ron Paul and his flaming antiwar spam monkeys can Kiss my Ass!!" -- Jim Robinson, 09/30/07)
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To: onyx
Janet Napolitano has been ARRESTING othrs who take pictures of TSA personnel in action at security points in airports.

Why hasn't she arrested the OWNER of that photo yet?

5 posted on 05/20/2011 3:24:08 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: Jim Robinson
Being a Photographer(1) (one of my many God given talents) I'm a firm believer in Copyright Protection for 'The Owner' of said work product(2).

One recent *famous* example of Copyright Infringement - which oddly, didn't get much coverage by the MSM(/s) -- were those posters of Obama with 'Hope' and 'Change' at the bottom. It turned out he didn't 'produce those' himself. He took a Photograph of Obama he found on the Internet and through editing software turned it into what looked like a silk-screen print that he created. Unfortunately for him, he got too famous from those Posters and the Photographer who took the original Photo sued his butt for a gazillion dollars and won. It was a real no brainer and a classic example of Copyright Infringement and what the law is really intended for.

All that being said, what Righthaven LLC© is doing (IMHO) has nothing to do with protecting the copyright of any work product. As per Wiki, all they have done, and do, is buy the right to sue over any 'copyright infringement'. They don't 'own' anything and couldn't give a 'carp' about the work product in question, or the Rights of the person who originally produced it(3).

Ergo, I hope that this judge slaps them upside their head, tells them to go pound sand, and if they file one more lawsuit they'll be shipped off to the ADMAX Prison at Florence Colorado :-)

(1) No and double NO. I don't and won't do weddings! (Water-board me, I don't care, it's still NO!)
(2) aka; Photograph.
(3) Photographer or 'artist'

6 posted on 05/20/2011 6:04:22 AM PDT by Condor51 (The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits [A.Einstein])
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To: muawiyah

People being arrested by the TSA for taking pictures? I’ve seen many youtube videos and read many stories, but have not seen this? Did this recently happen? How is this illegal?


7 posted on 05/20/2011 6:12:11 AM PDT by rawhide
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To: Jim Robinson
From the Article: Righthaven very likely is neither the owner nor exclusive holder of any rights in the copyrighted work underlying this lawsuit. As such, Righthaven has suffered no injury or other cognizable harm required for it to have standing.

This is an issue that should have been resolved by counsel for plaintiffs before bringing suit. As such, you may want to ask the court to sanction their sorry butts. Additionally, you may want to investigate the option of bringing a claim against them for malpractice.

8 posted on 05/20/2011 6:48:44 AM PDT by Zakeet (The difference between the Wee Wee and a battery ... the battery has a positive side)
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To: rawhide
It was in the news a couple of weeks back. Then, too, if you take pictures of the security operation at an airport and then use them for commercial reasons you will need a release from TSA as well as any of the private individuals in the picture.

That's just plain old copyright law ~ get release, agree to payment, take picture, peddle picture.

RightHaven got itself balled up in this picture of the TSA patdown and didn't bother getting a release from TSA or from the civilian being patted down.

That picture could be worth millions to the people in the picture ~ they can sue and ruin all the newspapers, and RightHaven for unauthorized commercial use.

9 posted on 05/20/2011 7:06:28 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: Jim Robinson
Kane, John L. Jr.
Born 1937 in Tucumcari, NM

Federal Judicial Service:
Judge, U. S. District Court, District of Colorado
Nominated by Jimmy Carter on November 2, 1977, to a seat vacated by Alfred A. Arraj; Confirmed by the Senate on December 15, 1977, and received commission on December 16, 1977. Assumed senior status on April 8, 1988.

Education:
University of Colorado, B.A., 1958
University of Denver College of Law, J.D., 1960

Professional Career:
Law clerk, Seventeenth Judicial District of Colorado, 1960-1961
Private practice, Brighton, Colorado, 1961-1963
Deputy district attorney, Seventeenth Judicial District of Colorado, 1961-1963
Private practice, Denver, Colorado, 1964
Public defender, Adams County, Brighton, Colorado, 1965-1967
Deputy director, Peace Corps, Eastern Region of India, Calcutta, India, 1967-1968
Country representative, Peace Corps, Turkey, 1968-1969
Instructor, Metropolitan State College, Denver, Colorado, 1973-1974
Private practice, Denver, Colorado, 1970-1977
Adjunct professor, University of Denver College of Law, 1978-1988
Visiting lecturer in law, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, 1989
Miller distinguished visiting professor of law, University of Denver College of Law, 1990-1996
Adjunct professor, Colorado School of Law, 1996-present

10 posted on 05/20/2011 8:16:10 AM PDT by SmithL (Bacon, the ultimate condiment!)
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To: Jim Robinson
Kane, John L. Jr.
Born 1937 in Tucumcari, NM

Federal Judicial Service:
Judge, U. S. District Court, District of Colorado
Nominated by Jimmy Carter on November 2, 1977, to a seat vacated by Alfred A. Arraj; Confirmed by the Senate on December 15, 1977, and received commission on December 16, 1977. Assumed senior status on April 8, 1988.

Education:
University of Colorado, B.A., 1958
University of Denver College of Law, J.D., 1960

Professional Career:
Law clerk, Seventeenth Judicial District of Colorado, 1960-1961
Private practice, Brighton, Colorado, 1961-1963
Deputy district attorney, Seventeenth Judicial District of Colorado, 1961-1963
Private practice, Denver, Colorado, 1964
Public defender, Adams County, Brighton, Colorado, 1965-1967
Deputy director, Peace Corps, Eastern Region of India, Calcutta, India, 1967-1968
Country representative, Peace Corps, Turkey, 1968-1969
Instructor, Metropolitan State College, Denver, Colorado, 1973-1974
Private practice, Denver, Colorado, 1970-1977
Adjunct professor, University of Denver College of Law, 1978-1988
Visiting lecturer in law, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, 1989
Miller distinguished visiting professor of law, University of Denver College of Law, 1990-1996
Adjunct professor, Colorado School of Law, 1996-present

11 posted on 05/20/2011 8:16:20 AM PDT by SmithL (Bacon, the ultimate condiment!)
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To: Condor51
No and double NO. I don't and won't do weddings! (Water-board me, I don't care, it's still NO!)

Baby photography at JC Penneys, then?

12 posted on 05/20/2011 10:00:43 AM PDT by Alex Murphy (Posting news feeds, making eyes bleed: he's hated on seven continents)
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To: SmithL

i was on a jury in his court a few years ago. his wife is the mystery writer stephanoe kane.


13 posted on 05/21/2011 3:55:39 PM PDT by bravo whiskey (If the little things really bother you, maybe it's because the big things are going well.)
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