Righthaven says it might have to file for bankruptcy

vegas.inc ^ | Sept 9, 2011 | By Steven Green

[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...

[FourPeas]

Awwwww.

I’m normally not one for dancing on graves, but for Righthaven I’ll make an exception.

[TribalPrincess2U]

Couldn’t happen to a better bunch of rotten money hungry scum.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

I always said that the best way to describe what Righthaven does is raw sewage. Gives me some hope that some of our legal system at least recognizes what a sham they are.

[bcsco]

[Nervous Tick]

Sweet!

[Red Badger]

[Liberty Valance]

[Lazlo in PA]

Now that there is funny.

[Red Badger]

Life’s a b!tch....and then you file for bankruptcy...........

[Albion Wilde]

[philman_36]

"For 'tis sport to have the engineer
Hoist with his own petar …" Hamlet

[fatima]

:)They gotta be hiding some money somewhere.

[Kartographer]

"I wonder why it is the man who pleads for mercy never gives it."
Louis L'Amour

[JoeProBono]

[50cal Smokepole]

[ArrogantBustard]

I’m normally not one for dancing on graves

Well ....

There's always dropping a "deuce" on them ...

[Billthedrill]

Pity we’ve done away with public floggings.

[lysie]

Great! How do I double my FR monthly contribution to celebrate this news? :-)

[EdReform]

Jim, have you considered filing a suit against Warren Stephens and Righthaven to get back the settlement FR paid to these crooks?

[KarlInOhio]

Well, that ride is over.

I haven't seen them crushed or driven before us yet, and I certainly haven't heard the lamentations of their women. I fear that this bunch will have more lives than SCO.