Posted on 09/09/2011 11:01:04 AM PDT by Jim Robinson
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 appealing the underlying rulings by Pro finding Righthaven lacked standing to sue Hoehn and – even if it had standing – that Hoehn was protected by fair use in posting an entire Las Vegas Review-Journal column on a sports betting website message board.
Righthaven says its lawsuits are necessary to deter rampant online infringement of newspaper content, but attorneys for Hoehn and other defendants claim Righthaven's suits are frivolous and are based on sham copyright assignments and are merely part of a get-rich-quick scheme.
Righthaven’s bankruptcy warning came a day after MediaNews Group, the owner of the Denver Post and other newspapers, revealed it won’t renew its contract with Righthaven for copyright protection services in the form of its controversial no-warning lawsuits.
While the Righthaven bankruptcy warning may sound ominous, a bankruptcy filing wouldn’t prevent Righthaven creditors from asking the bankruptcy court for permission to seize Righthaven’s assets. Such a filing also would require Righthaven to reveal detailed financial information that so far has been secret as it's a private company.
And Righthaven copyright lawsuit defendants considering countersuing Righthaven over what they call sham copyright claims would likely target not just Righthaven, but its deep-pocketed newspaper partners...
(Excerpt) Read more at vegasinc.com ...
Well, Darn.... /S
Bankruptcy? Right on!
Poor babies; paybacks are hell.
Awww...ain’t that a shame. Hope they like unemployment, although it has been proposed to be extended. Again.
Who is Righthaven and what do they do?
In this case, may the door hit them.
Well, that ride is over.
The sharks ate themselves.
Good. I hope one or more of those jerks is living in a refrigerator box before this is over.
Music to my ears!
sniffOK, I'm over it.
bankruptcy because of a series of setbacks in its litigation campaign scam.
Fixed it.
Life’s rough all over.
Damn that internet and
Al Gore for inventing it. ;-)
Some one needs to post the Simpson’s “Ha Ha” kid.
Sued FR and hundreds of others for so-called copyright infringement to get monetary settlements out of court. And they didn't even own the copyrights -- those remained with Stevens Media. It was nothing more than a scam, but those sued had to defend themselves and it cost a bunch of money plus just plain aggravation. Click on the keyword for details.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of people. LOL!!
Wait, I thought these shysters were grabbing many thousands of bucks right and left every month. This fine or legal fee judgment or whatever should be chicken feed out of that. Maybe they’re having other troubles too (good riddance for these chaos-mongering interlopers).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.