Righthaven LLC was a copyright enforcement company founded in early 2010. Based in
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
; it entered agreements from its partner newspapers after finding that their content had been copied to online sites without permission, in order to engage in
litigation
-
A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...
against the site owners for
copyright infringement
Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, s ...
. The lawsuits were much criticized by commentators, who describe the activity as
copyright troll
A copyright troll is a party (person or company) that enforces copyrights it owns for purposes of making money through strategic litigation, in a manner considered unduly aggressive or opportunistic, sometimes while without producing or licensin ...
ing
and the company as a "lawsuit factory".
Righthaven LLC's
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
, Steven Gibson, who is currently a partner at Las Vegas law firm
Gibson & True LLP, regularly spoke to the media about Righthaven.
Although its strategy was successful at first, it was undone in 2011 when several judges held that, since Righthaven didn't actually own the copyrights, it had no
standing to sue for infringement. The company was forced into
receivership
In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver—a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights"—especially in ca ...
in November 2011 due to outstanding legal fees to a successful defendant.
[ In January 2012, its domain name, righthaven.com, was sold at auction to help satisfy its debts.] In March 2013, Stephens Media
Stephens Media LLC was a Las Vegas, Nevada, diversified media investment company. It owned stakes in the California Newspapers Partnership and the ''Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette''.
The company had been expanding its interactive Internet b ...
bought back what copyrights they had transferred to Righthaven, allowing the Righthaven Receivership Estate to pay off legal fees.
Lawsuits
Righthaven initially entered agreements concerning old news articles from Stephens Media, publisher of the ''Las Vegas Review-Journal
The ''Las Vegas Review-Journal'' is a daily subscription newspaper published in Las Vegas, Nevada, since 1909. It is the largest circulating daily newspaper in Nevada and one of two daily newspapers in the Las Vegas area.
The ''Review-Journal'' ...
'', based on a business model
A business model describes how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value,''Business Model Generation'', Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Alan Smith, and 470 practitioners from 45 countries, self-published, 2010 in economic, social, ...
of suing bloggers, other Internet authors, and Internet site operators for statutory damages
Statutory damages are a damage award in civil law, in which the amount awarded is stipulated within the statute rather than being calculated based on the degree of harm to the plaintiff. Lawmakers will provide for statutory damages for acts in wh ...
for having reproduced the articles on their sites without permission. An affiliate of Stephens Media owned half of Righthaven. By March 24, 2011, 255 cases had been filed. Typically, Righthaven has demanded $75,000 and surrender of the domain name from each alleged infringer, but accepted out of court settlements of several thousand dollars per defendant. approximately 70 cases had settled.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. The foundation was formed on 10 July 1990 by John Gilmore, John Perry Barlow and Mitch Kapor to promote Internet ci ...
(EFF) soon took up the case on behalf of several defendants. Kurt Opsahl, an EFF attorney, said, "Despite what Righthaven claims, it's hard to interpret these lawsuits as anything else besides a way to bully Internet users into paying unnecessary settlements."
In August 2010, the company entered an agreement with WEHCO Media
WEHCO Media, Inc., based in Little Rock, AR is a privately held media company with holdings that include newspapers, cable television systems, and internet service. Walter E. Hussman, Jr. (born 1947), is the president. Hussmann is the grandson of ...
in Arkansas to pursue similar actions. Later, it made a similar arrangement with Media News Group
MNG Enterprises, Inc., doing business as Digital First Media and MediaNews Group, is a Denver, Colorado-based newspaper publisher owned by Alden Global Capital. The company has been growing its portfolio and as of May 2021, owns over 100 newspa ...
, publisher of the ''San Jose Mercury News
''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidiar ...
''.
In December 2010, Righthaven began to sue website operators over republished graphics and photographs, and also expanded its scope to material originally published by the ''Denver Post
''The Denver Post'' is a daily newspaper and website published in Denver, Colorado. As of June 2022, it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 13 ...
'' and other newspapers. That month it filed more than a dozen lawsuits over a graphic illustration of the " Vdara death ray" that had gone viral.
In April 2011, a federal judge unsealed the agreement between Righthaven and Stephens Media, revealing that Stephens media receives 50% of the proceeds of lawsuits (after deducting costs). In addition, an attorney for one of the defendants claims that the agreement provides only limited rights to the copyrights of Stephens Media, specifically, only the right to sue. Some defense attorneys argue that one must have complete ownership in order to have standing
Standing, also referred to as orthostasis, is a position in which the body is held in an ''erect'' ("orthostatic") position and supported only by the feet. Although seemingly static, the body rocks slightly back and forth from the ankle in the s ...
to sue, which may undermine the lawsuits related to the ''Review-Journal'' material.
On June 14, 2011, Federal District Court Judge Roger L. Hunt ruled that Righthaven had no standing to sue for copyright infringement, on the grounds that the original parties retain the actual copyrights. Hunt also dressed down Righthaven for misrepresenting its financial connections to Stephens Media. Among other sanctions imposed by Hunt, Righthaven was fined US$5,000 for the misrepresentation.
On August 15, 2011, after losing a case handled by Marc Randazza
Marc J. Randazza (born November 26, 1969) is an American First Amendment attorney and a commentator on Infowars and CNN on legal matters.
Early life and education
Randazza was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts. He graduated from Gloucester High ...
Righthaven was ordered to pay $34,045.50 in attorney's fees and court costs in its unsuccessful lawsuit against Wayne Hoehn. Righthaven had sued Hoehn for copying a ''Review-Journal'
editorial to a blog.
Federal judge Philip Pro
Philip Martin Pro (born December 12, 1946) is a former United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada. He is currently an arbitrator and mediator in private practice.
Educa ...
found that Righthaven had no standing to sue, and in any case Hoehn's posting was protected by fair use
Fair use is a doctrine in United States law that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder. Fair use is one of the limitations to copyright intended to balance the interests ...
. The matter was then brought to an appeal at the 9th Circuit court of appeals in California, which upheld the dismissal and the attorneys fees judgment.
Insolvency
On September 7, 2011, Legal Wings Inc., a process server used by Righthaven between May and October 2010, filed a lawsuit against Righthaven in Las Vegas Township Justice Court for unpaid bills valued at $5,670.
On September 8, 2011, the MediaNews Group announced it was terminating its deal with Righthaven at the end of the month. The new CEO of the company, John Paton, called the Righthaven deal "a dumb idea from the start" and further said that had he been CEO at the time of the decision, he would have never signed it.
On October 26, 2011, Righthaven was ordered to pay $119,488 in attorney's fees and court costs in its lawsuit against former federal prosecutor Thomas DiBiase. Righthaven had sued DiBiase for posting a ''Review-Journal'' story about a murder case without permission. Hunt, who had also presided over the Democratic Underground case, threw out Righthaven's suit that summer after finding Righthaven lacked standing.
On October 29, 2011, Wayne Hoehn asked Pro to seize Righthaven's assets, including its bank accounts and property, to provide for the payment of Hoehn's legal fees from the August 2011 ruling. The company had previously delayed the payment to avoid bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
.
On November 1, 2011, Pro authorized the US Marshals Service
The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The USMS is a bureau within the U.S. Department of Justice, operating under the direction of the Attorney General, but serves as the enforce ...
to use reasonable force to seize $63,000 in cash and assets from Righthaven in order to pay Hoehn's legal fees. The amount included additional costs and fees from three months of delays. When it was discovered that the company bank account held less than $1,000, the court issued an order for Righthaven to turn over its intellectual property to a court-appointed receiver to be sold at auction. Righthaven did not comply by the December 19, 2011 deadline, and filed an emergency appeal with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to stop the auction from going forward, a motion which was rejected on January 10, 2012.
On December 21, 2011, the righthaven.com domain name was transferred to the receiver for auction. On January 6, 2012, the righthaven.com domain name sold for $3,300 to a Switzerland-based hosting service with the stated goal of protecting clients against "frivolous or overly aggressive take-down tactics".
On March 13, 2013, what copyrights Righthaven held regarding Stephens Media assets were sold off in order to satisfy financial obligations. Proceeds from the sale were divided between the receivers of the Righthaven Receivership Estate, the litigant Wayne Hoehn, and Hoehn's lawyer, Marc Randazza. As stated by the receiver, ''"…Righthaven’s rights acquired from Stephens Media were sold back to their original source in a commercially reasonable manner, as no other market existed for them."''
Commentary
The cases were covered by many newspapers and blogs. The ''Las Vegas Review-Journal'' and its main competitor, the ''Las Vegas Sun
The ''Las Vegas Sun'' is one of the Las Vegas Valley's two daily Subscription business model, subscription newspapers. It is owned by the Greenspun family and is affiliated with Greenspun Media Group. The paper published afternoons on weekdays ...
'', published a series of editorials criticizing each other over the incident. ''Wired'' magazine and others described the lawsuits as copyright troll
A copyright troll is a party (person or company) that enforces copyrights it owns for purposes of making money through strategic litigation, in a manner considered unduly aggressive or opportunistic, sometimes while without producing or licensin ...
ing and likened the activity to that of patent troll
In international law and business, patent trolling or patent hoarding is a categorical or pejorative term applied to a person or company that attempts to enforce patent rights against accused infringers far beyond the patent's actual value or ...
s.
Most critics (and several federal judges) agreed that Righthaven had been suing over usage of news items allowed under the "fair use
Fair use is a doctrine in United States law that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder. Fair use is one of the limitations to copyright intended to balance the interests ...
" doctrine.
See also
* '' Righthaven LLC v. Democratic Underground LLC''
* Digital Millennium Copyright Act
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a 1998 United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or s ...
* Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act
The Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act (OCILLA) is United States federal law that creates a conditional 'safe harbor' for online service providers (OSP) (a group which includes internet service providers (ISP) and other Inter ...
References
{{reflist, 30em
External links
righthavenlawsuits.com
– unofficial site that lists the lawsuits
righthavenvictims.blogspot.com
– unofficial site listing "victims of Righthaven LLC 'shakedown' lawsuits"
Court finding in ''Righthaven v Realty One'', October 16, 2010
"Righthaven defendant wins first lawsuit dismissal motion"
– newspaper report of ''Realty One'' decision
lasvegassun.com
– lawsuits over a TSA pat-down photo
United States copyright law
Copyright enforcement companies