Court Gives Righthaven A Little More Time To Pay Attorneys Fees

from the but-not-much dept

Fri, Sep 30th 2011 3:53pm — Mike Masnick

As Righthaven is desperately trying to avoid paying legal fees to Marc Randazza in the Hoehn case, it appears that the company has caught a very slight and brief reprieve. Judge Philip Pro has given the company a little bit more time, saying that Righthaven doesn't need to pay attorneys fees while the case is on appeal -- but it must post a bond to show that it can pay the $34k within 30 days. The judge then rejected the attempt to have Righthaven declared in contempt, and to allow the US Marshals to seize Righthaven assets. That's pretty understandable, given the appeal. Requiring Righthaven to post bond seems quite reasonable, even though I'm sure Righthaven will try to get out of it. Judge Pro also made it easier for Righthaven to post bond by saying that it only had to post bond on the $34k, rather than a much larger sum, including additional legal fees for the appeals process. This basically gives Righthaven a very, very brief respite, but isn't going to help. Even the judge makes it clear that Righthaven "does not enjoy a reasonable probability of success on the merits of its appeal."

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Filed Under: attorneys fees, hoehn
Companies: righthaven

11 Comments

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mr. sim (profile), 30 Sep 2011 @ 5:07pm

the question is that righthaven when they post the bond is there a way for them to get out of paying when the appeal fails.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Sep 2011 @ 7:50pm

Re:
You assume they're actually going to post that bond... I give it a 50/50 chance.
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Karl (profile), 30 Sep 2011 @ 11:38pm

Re: Re:
You assume they're actually going to post that bond... I give it a 50/50 chance.

That's 50% more than what I'd give.

(What a bargain! Call now, operators are standing by.)
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The eejit (profile), 1 Oct 2011 @ 12:08am

Re: Re: Re:
I was thinking it's more likely that Mike gets teabagged today by Michele Bachmann in Oregon whilst both are wearing their Sunday Best.
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jayman, 1 Oct 2011 @ 8:09am

What company would post a bond for Righthaven !? -- basically Righthaven would pay a company $3,400 who would then be on the hook for $34,000 when Righthaven slithers away in the night...
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Oct 2011 @ 8:20am

Re:
I could be wrong, but I assume Righthaven's lawyers aren't working for free. If they are drawing a salary, there could easily be a fund with the $34,000 in it - Lawyers aren't cheap. If not... well, then the bond company should learn to avoid dishonest companies that are about to go bankrupt.
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jayman, 1 Oct 2011 @ 9:11am

Re: Re:
Oh, I have no doubt that the attorneys are getting paid, but without a receiver in place, I guarantee there will be no money when it comes to collection time.
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DannyB (profile), 1 Oct 2011 @ 9:22am

The poetic justice that I want to see happen
I want to see the sheriff seize their assets -- INCLUDING the intellectual property -- specifically the copyrights that were once owned by Stephens Media, but now supposedly "owned" by Righthaven.

If the copyrights are really now owned by Righthaven, then it is poetic justice that one of Righthaven's intended victims ends up owning the copyrights that were to be used to victimize the victim.

If the coyprights are NOT really owned by Righthaven, then the court needs to really let them have it because Righthaven represented to the court that they had "fixed" their contracts so that Righthaven now has ownership of the copyrights.
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DannyB (profile), 1 Oct 2011 @ 9:26am

Re: Icing on the cake
If one of Righthaven's victims were to end up owning the copyrights used for extortion against victims, then it would be really sweet if the new owner of those copyrights put all of that content under . . .

. . . wait for it . . .

a Creative Commons license like Attribution, Share Alike.

Now that would be sweet.

Bloggers could quote any of that newspaper content under a CC license without the threat of having to raise a fair use defense against an extortionist plaintiff.
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jayman, 1 Oct 2011 @ 9:41am

I just want to see them auction off Steve Gibson's bluetooth headset at the Sheriff's sale :)
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Oct 2011 @ 7:19am

Re: The poetic justice that I want to see happen
I know Righthaven and Stephens Media think there is some value to their IP. Does anyone else? What value do you think it has? $10, $20?
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