Case That Righthaven Had 'Won' By Default Now Dismissed For Lack Of Standing

from the down-goes-another-one dept

Wed, Aug 24th 2011 3:03pm — Mike Masnick

It's getting a bit repetitive to note just how many times copyright troll Righthaven is losing these days, even as it's entertaining to watch. But this latest loss -- its seventh so far -- is even more interesting, because it's a dismissal of a case that Righthaven already thought it had "won." The case involved Righthaven suing a guy named Bill Hyatt... who totally ignored the lawsuit. As can happen in such situations, a court clerk simply entered a default judgment against Hyatt. Righthaven seized upon this opportunity to then ask the court (as it did in each of its lawsuits) for more than just a monetary award: it asked for his domain. We had noted how silly it was for Righthaven to always demand the domains of those it sued, as there's no such remedy in copyright law, but here it thought it could put one over on the court. As we noted back in February, the Media Bloggers Association stepped into the case and filed an amicus brief (via Marc Randazza) questioning Righthaven's claims. And, now, beyond just not getting the domain, the judge has decided to dismiss the whole case for lack of standing, since (once again) the judge has realized that Righthaven doesn't actually hold the copyright it claims to hold. Ah Righthaven. These days, it can't even win a case when the other side doesn't even show up.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: copyright, default judgment, standing
Companies: righthaven, stephens media

24 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

crade (profile), 24 Aug 2011 @ 2:31pm

It's a disgrace to the system that these guys are still around. How long does it take to stop such an obvious crook from creating new fraudulent lawsuits in plain site of everyone?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
daveparker, 24 Aug 2011 @ 3:27pm

- it's seventh so far
apostrophe's
[ link to this | view in thread ]
gyffes, 24 Aug 2011 @ 3:47pm

No apostrophe: there's no contraction implied there. Its is possessive.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 24 Aug 2011 @ 3:55pm

Re:
Those guys are resilient and brave even in the face of bomb threats.

So I guess they will go down to the bitter end until it becomes clear that no judge will hear them, that could take some time though, it is a big country with thousands of venues.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Wes, 24 Aug 2011 @ 4:10pm

Re: - it's seventh so far
It's not missing an apostrophe, it's missing a "the" as in "it's the seventh so far".
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 24 Aug 2011 @ 4:15pm

Errors
In the story: "latest loss -- it's seventh so far", "it's" should be "its". The possessive pronoun "its" does not have an apostrophe.

In the comment: "fraudulent lawsuits in plain site of everyone", "site" should be "sight". Please check your dictionary.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 24 Aug 2011 @ 4:16pm

Re: - it's seventh so far
Grammar failer fails again!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
DOlz (profile), 24 Aug 2011 @ 4:45pm

Re:
Righthaven makes cockroaches look like quitters.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
taoareyou (profile), 24 Aug 2011 @ 5:35pm

Re: Errors
How do you know it's got an extra apostrophe and not missing a "the" as in "It's the seventh". But really, it's pretty entertaining to see your only way to be critical is to focus on some simple grammar errors. :) Says a lot.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 24 Aug 2011 @ 6:39pm

Re: Re: Errors
Says even more that people are willing to display their ignorance and/or laziness by failing to either use correct grammar or take advantage of existing technology to check their grammar.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 24 Aug 2011 @ 9:36pm

Re: Re: - it's seventh so far
what would that be, a grammar correction fail?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 24 Aug 2011 @ 9:39pm

Re: Re: Re: Errors
That's a very strong message, coming from an AC whom we know almost nothing about.

and who are you, and where are your other posts, that we may scrutinize your grammar?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 24 Aug 2011 @ 9:45pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Errors
It's amazing how this AC holds MM to the high standard of providing absolutely perfect grammar but then he provides us with no way of holding him to any standards whatsoever (ie: he denies us the ability to identify him). I wonder why ...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 24 Aug 2011 @ 10:11pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Errors
Or, he pointed out an error or two so they could be corrected and someone is being mister crankypants for no apparent reason.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 24 Aug 2011 @ 10:15pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Errors
His post doesn't even point out an error, it simply calls Mike either ignorant or lazy for simply making a typo. Pointing out an error would be something simple like

"x" should have been "y"

not what he wrote.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
DogBreath, 24 Aug 2011 @ 10:34pm

Re: Re:
Or until they threaten to dethrone Jonathan Lee Riches from the Guinness Book of World Records naming him as the person who has filed the most lawsuits in the history of mankind (which he filed an injunction to prevent). Once he sues Righthaven, then they'll be finished for sure.

I believe a court case like that would fall under the old "immovable object meets the unstoppable force" rule, or if you prefer it in simpler terms... "dumb and dumber".
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Jeffrey Nonken (profile), 24 Aug 2011 @ 11:57pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Errors
He's actually praising Mike for the correctness of his post because it was the only error he could find. :)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Karl (profile), 25 Aug 2011 @ 12:55am

Re: - it's seventh so far
it's seventh so far

"it's seventh so far" would be "it is seventh so far".

"its seventh so far" means "the seventh, so far, that 'belongs to' it."

Mike's grammar was 100% correct. No apostrophe or "the" needed. Perhaps you should look at this:
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apostrophe

Love,
- an even bigger grammar Nazi
[ link to this | view in thread ]
G Thompson (profile), 25 Aug 2011 @ 1:10am

Wow thinks are really looking bad when you loose ex-parte decisions after they have been granted.

Righthaven is still blazing that trail by setting their arse on fire I see. ;)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
One_of_the_Norm (profile), 25 Aug 2011 @ 6:40am

Re: Errors
I find it amusing that Righthaven has become such a joke, and is apparently so irrelevant and uninteresting, that replies to an article on them focus on the article's grammar content and have little to do with the article or Righthaven.

"What was that? Was that an article about Righthaven lossing again... whatever... but look at this one tiny tidbit of grammatical inconsistency"

LOL
[ link to this | view in thread ]
taoareyou (profile), 25 Aug 2011 @ 6:43am

Re: Re: Re: Errors
Seriously, correcting a spelling mistake made by someone in a blog post comment is one thing (pointless IMO but hey), but to follow up that correction with an even more pointless series of insults reveals your motive quite clearly.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
One_of_the_Norm (profile), 25 Aug 2011 @ 6:48am

Re: Re: Errors
Correction, apparently I can't proof read my posts...

"What was that? Was that an article about Righthaven losing again... whatever... but look at this one tiny tidbit of grammatical inconsistency"
[ link to this | view in thread ]
crade (profile), 25 Aug 2011 @ 8:06am

Re: Re:
They are obviously crooks trying to swindle people and the fact that they are allowed to keep swindling is a sad comment on [y]our justice system
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Bill (profile), 25 Aug 2011 @ 9:40am

Re: Re: - it's seventh so far
Thanks for that link.
[ link to this | view in thread ]