sharon sanders
Editor-in-Chief & President
Judge Rules That Righthaven Lawsuit Was A Sham; Threatens Sanctions
from the huge-win dept
In a huge victory against copyright trolls, a judge has thrown out the lawsuit filed by Righthaven against Democratic Underground. This was the key case where (after lots of stalling), Righthaven eventually revealed the strategic agreement between it and Stephens Media, which basically shows the copyright assignment to Righthaven was a fraud. All Stephens really transferred was a "right to sue," and that's not a transferable right under copyright law. As we had expected, the judge relies on the Silvers vs. Sony Pictures case, which notes that you can't assign just the right to sue.
snip
Towards the end, the judge unloads on Righthaven's attempt to claim that because earlier rulings by the same court had been okay with its standing, there was some sort of precedent:
[from the court] "Finally, Righthaven contends that multiple courts within this district have already determined that Righthaven has standing to bring claims for past infringement under the Silver standard based on the plain language of the copyright assignment. At best, this argument is disingenuous. As the undersigned issued one of the orders Righthaven cites for this argument, the undersigned is well aware that Righthaven led the district judges of this district to believe that it was the true owner of the copyright in the relevant news articles. Righthaven did not disclose the true nature of the transaction by disclosing the SAA or Stephens Media?s pecuniary interests. As the SAA makes abundantly clear, Stephens Media retained the exclusive rights, never actually transferring them to Righthaven regardless of Righthaven?s and Stephens Media?s current contentions. Further, Righthaven also failed to disclose Stephens Media in its certificates of interested parties, despite Stephens Media?s right to proceeds from these lawsuits..."
As for that last point, it may open up Righthaven to a world of hurt.
more.....
from the huge-win dept
In a huge victory against copyright trolls, a judge has thrown out the lawsuit filed by Righthaven against Democratic Underground. This was the key case where (after lots of stalling), Righthaven eventually revealed the strategic agreement between it and Stephens Media, which basically shows the copyright assignment to Righthaven was a fraud. All Stephens really transferred was a "right to sue," and that's not a transferable right under copyright law. As we had expected, the judge relies on the Silvers vs. Sony Pictures case, which notes that you can't assign just the right to sue.
snip
Towards the end, the judge unloads on Righthaven's attempt to claim that because earlier rulings by the same court had been okay with its standing, there was some sort of precedent:
[from the court] "Finally, Righthaven contends that multiple courts within this district have already determined that Righthaven has standing to bring claims for past infringement under the Silver standard based on the plain language of the copyright assignment. At best, this argument is disingenuous. As the undersigned issued one of the orders Righthaven cites for this argument, the undersigned is well aware that Righthaven led the district judges of this district to believe that it was the true owner of the copyright in the relevant news articles. Righthaven did not disclose the true nature of the transaction by disclosing the SAA or Stephens Media?s pecuniary interests. As the SAA makes abundantly clear, Stephens Media retained the exclusive rights, never actually transferring them to Righthaven regardless of Righthaven?s and Stephens Media?s current contentions. Further, Righthaven also failed to disclose Stephens Media in its certificates of interested parties, despite Stephens Media?s right to proceeds from these lawsuits..."
As for that last point, it may open up Righthaven to a world of hurt.
more.....