Judge In South Carolina Poised To Dismiss Righthaven Suit There As Well
from the down-goes-another-one dept
Ah, the hits just keep on coming for Righthaven. Having already had judges in Nevada and Colorado dismiss Righthaven cases for lack of standing, the one remaining state where Righthaven had tried its questionable legal tactics was South Carolina, which had prompted a somewhat epic countersuit. Not surprisingly, it's looking like it's a trifecta of losses for Righthaven, as magistrate judge Jacquelyn Austin has made it clear that she's not buying whatever it is that Righthaven is selling. She's given the company until October 28th to explain why the case shouldn't be dismissed for lack of standing.Defendant contests Plaintiff’s ownership of the disputed copyright and argues the case should be dismissed for lack of standing. Plaintiff’s ownership of its assigned copyrights has been contested in Nevada and Colorado. Judges in Nevada have dismissed complaints for lack of standing and issued orders to show cause why these cases should not be dismissed for lack of standing. The copyright assignments in the Nevada cases are governed by a Strategic Alliance Agreement between Righthaven LLC and Stephens Media LLC which appears to be very similar to the Copyright Alliance Agreement (the “CAA”), including its Schedule 1 – Terms and Conditions, between Plaintiff and MediaNews Group, Inc. (“MediaNews”) that Defendant asserts governs the copyright assignment at issue in this case.* Moreover, the CAA appears to support Defendant’s claim that Plaintiff does not have standing to sue for copyright infringement. Specifically, the CAA appears to qualify any copyright assignments it governs such that Plaintiff is left only with a bare right to sue and does not own any exclusive rights in the copyright, as would be required for Plaintiff to have standing to allege an infringement claim on those copyrights. See Silvers v. Sony Pictures Entm’t, Inc., 402 F.3d 881 (9th Cir. 2005) (holding that an assignee who held an accrued claim for copyright infringement, but who had no legal or beneficial interest in the underlying copyright itself, could not institute a cause of action for infringement); Eden Toys, Inc. v. Florelee Undergarment Co., 697 F.2d 27 (2d Cir. 1982) (holding that one who owns no exclusive right in a copyright may not sue for infringement; only the owner of an exclusive right under a copyright may bring suit).I'm assuming that this is really just more guidance to Righthaven competitors from a judge who recognizes Righthaven's "genuine" legal arguments, right Steve?
Although Plaintiff argues substantive analysis of the assignment must await discovery, the Court believes this issue should be addressed because it goes to Plaintiff’s standing to bring a copyright infringement claim at all. Thus, in the interest of judicial economy, the Court issues this Order to Show Cause why the case should not be dismissed for Plaintiff’s lack of ownership of any exclusive rights in the copyright and, therefore, lack of standing to sue.
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Filed Under: copyright, fraud, south carolina, unauthorized practice of law
Companies: righthaven
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Good question, I for one would like to know the answer. Any lawyers in the audience willing to comment?
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Those easing of the law only serve the crooks to exploit the judicial system and weaken the citizens rights to due process.
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All of them. Whew, that was easy!
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If you don't like others not liking it, talk to the hand. Quit whining in the blogs
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To speak to this particular case, Stephens Media is the Copyright owner. This gives them the "rights" granted by current copyright law. They "assigned" the right to litigate over to Righthaven, LLC. They did not hire/contract Righthaven as their legal representation. This has been made painfully clear to Righthaven and Stephens Media. From the linked articles and this blog, most, if not all, defendants had/have very strong Fair Use claims for their use of the copyrighted media in question.
This leads us to 2 conclusions. First, Righthaven has absolutely no standing in this case. If a suit was to have been brought, it should be Stephens Media filing the suit.
Second, as for the actual copyright issue itself, Fair Use is an allowed privilege and each of these cases would have had a considerable argument for such.
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Actual guidance.
The problem I'm seeing is that someone else could learn from their mistake and start all over again.
I would have preferred if we got us some rulings on the actual merits of the case, not just the whole "license"-fiasco.
(Wow, not one word spelled wrong (according to my computer)!)
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Re: Actual guidance.
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Now, Mike, it's not nice to gloat.
Funny, yes - but not nice.
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