US Marshal Service Told To Go After Righthaven's Assets

from the is-it-over-yet? dept

Wed, Nov 2nd 2011 6:44am — Mike Masnick

The saga of Righthaven continues... and may finally be nearing a close. With Righthaven failing to get a court to change the requirement to put up a bond for the $34k it owes in legal fees for its bogus lawsuit against Wayne Hoehn, the deadline for Righthaven to pay up (or post such a bond) has passed. As such, it appears that the court has now signed off on a writ of execution for the US Marshal Service to seek to get from Righthaven the money owed, including additional accrued costs to make the total at stake: $63,720.80. In fact, they're "authorized to use reasonable force in the execution of this Judgment/Order." It seems that missing deadlines for filings may be the least of Righthaven's problems at this point.

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: assets, hoehn, righthaven, us marshal service
Companies: righthaven

42 Comments

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

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Anonymous Coward, 2 Nov 2011 @ 6:46am

That's not how you spell asses
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
DannyB (profile), 2 Nov 2011 @ 6:48am

The US Marshals are comming !
> The paper's publisher, Sherman Frederick, likewise
> warned readers: "I'm asking you nicely once again -
> don't steal our content. Or, I promise you,
> you will meet my little friend called Righthaven."

Wayne Hoehn's represtnation, Randazza legal group, likewise
warned RightHaven: "I'm asking you nicely once again
to pay your court judgement. Or, I promise you,
you will meet my little friend called the US Marshals.

Advice for Righthaven:: when you're an a-hole, stop digging!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- ken (profile), 2 Nov 2011 @ 5:11pm
  
  Re: The US Marshals are comming !
  Water-boarding sounds reasonable to me.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Troll, 2 Nov 2011 @ 6:55am

Given Righthaven's idiotic and illegal actions, I recommend unreasonable force, such as SWAT teams raiding to seize computers, assets, and that cute blonde in HR.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Prisoner 201, 2 Nov 2011 @ 7:25am
  
  Re:
  Shame on you for causing a ruckus on my workplace. Now my coworkers think I am either not working or that I have gone insane.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Nathan F (profile), 2 Nov 2011 @ 7:41am
    
    Re: Re:
    We have a place for you at my workplace in one of the padded rooms :)
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Anonymous Coward, 2 Nov 2011 @ 8:44am
  
  Re:
  I hope they think to take the local TV station's news crews along with them. The video would be priceless, er amusing (don't want anyone thinking this might be 'valuable' IP).
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 Nov 2011 @ 7:00am

This is a greek tragedy in the making. One way to recoup money from this, also generate some nice content.

"Righthaven - The movie" a satire of a legal company out of its depth in the merky waters of the law.

Not sure who would star.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 2 Nov 2011 @ 7:02am
  
  Re:
  Brenden Fraiser
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - PaxSkeptica, 2 Nov 2011 @ 7:55am
    
    Re: Re: [Not sure who would star...]
    I'd authorize the use of unreasonable force against Brendan Fraser.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- DannyB (profile), 2 Nov 2011 @ 7:28am
  
  Re:
  > This is a greek tragedy in the making.
  
  Correction. It was a geek tragedy. Now it's a geek comedy.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Dark Helmet (profile), 2 Nov 2011 @ 8:15am
    
    Re: Re:
    "Correction. It was a geek tragedy. Now it's a geek comedy."
    
    Ba....Bazinga?
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 2 Nov 2011 @ 9:00am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Get out of my sofa.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- The Groove Tiger (profile), 2 Nov 2011 @ 7:38am
  
  Re:
  John Travolta.
  
  They can call it A Civil Action 2: Righthaven's Revenge.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- The eejit (profile), 2 Nov 2011 @ 8:28am
  
  Re:
  Ben Kingsley as the EVIL JUDGE COX, Richard Gambon as the doddering yet kindly pawn Gibson, Brad Pitt as Mangano, Tom Hanks as Hoehn, and Kermit the frog as the US Marshal.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 2 Nov 2011 @ 9:15am
    
    Re: Re:
    I agree with most of those, but would prefer to see Sylvester Stallone play a judge again.....
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - DogBreath, 2 Nov 2011 @ 11:56am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      We can always use our imagination, but I bet it would go down just like this:
      
      U.S Marshal "Judge Dredd" coming to seize Righthaven assets
      
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itmNiTwHOsM
      
      I wonder if using a Lawgiver on Righthaven would be considered "reasonable force"?
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 2 Nov 2011 @ 12:40pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      I saw some pictures of the new Judge and it looks dreadful.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- hothmonster, 2 Nov 2011 @ 9:16am
  
  Re:
  "Righthaven - The movie" a satire of a legal company out of its depth in the merky waters of the law. "
  
  That pitch sounds more like a sitcom. Except, of course, the "The Movie" part.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
WDS (profile), 2 Nov 2011 @ 7:06am

Judgement Proof
It is obvious that Righthaven thinks that they are judgement proof. I hope the jerks behind it find out that they were wrong.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 Nov 2011 @ 7:11am

Guidance
The US Marshal Service is just trying to give them guid....you know what? Never mind. They're screwed.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Peter, 2 Nov 2011 @ 7:12am

Assets
Any bets that there are no assets left to seize.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- DannyB (profile), 2 Nov 2011 @ 7:31am
  
  Re: Assets
  I hope this is true. It hope the reason is that they've done something underhanded, brazenly obvious, and not until after the judgement was entered, to try to protect their asse(t)s by transferring them to Stephens Media and/or the individual personal accounts of those responsible for this farce of a protection racket.
  
  Advice for Righthaven: next time you want to set up a protection racket, go ask the professionals, the Mafia, how it is done.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 2 Nov 2011 @ 8:20am
  
  Re: Assets
  First one to get the righthaven.com domain name wins.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - DannyB (profile), 2 Nov 2011 @ 10:29am
    
    Re: Re: Assets
    First one to get the Stephens Media copyrights, that were supposedly transferred to Righthaven via its amended New(tm) and Improved(tm) contract, really wins.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 Nov 2011 @ 7:40am

The offices were probably cleaned out days or weeks ago. Next stop, bankruptcy court.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 Nov 2011 @ 7:44am

Wake me up when the Marshalls show up at their homes and take away their personal stuff. Not going to happen, you say? Well there you go then, proof that this whole thing is just smoke and mirrors to reassure the public that "the system works".

And even if these clowns get actually punished in some way, they're still just sacrificial lambs. Bigger organizations like the RIAA can get away with the same tactics and worse. Yawn.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- DannyB (profile), 2 Nov 2011 @ 8:11am
  
  Re:
  High court vs Low court.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 2 Nov 2011 @ 8:25am
  
  Re:
  I think it would be wrong to pierce the corporate veil here unless they can find some really damaging evidence that Righthaven had paid stevens media all its money thusfar.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - The eejit (profile), 2 Nov 2011 @ 8:30am
    
    Re: Re:
    Which would open up Stephens Media up to fraud, extortion and racketeering charges, and that means everyone at the top.
    
    You literally cannot make this shit up, if that's true. If this was a satire, it would be too unrealistic.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
BentFranklin (profile), 2 Nov 2011 @ 8:27am

Pierce the veil!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
lucidrenegade (profile), 2 Nov 2011 @ 8:51am

*In fact, they're "authorized to use reasonable force in the execution of this Judgment/Order."*

Really too bad somebody didn't accidentally change 'reasonable' to 'deadly'.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 Nov 2011 @ 8:59am

Copyrights are assets!
So does that mean that the US Marshalls can seize the copyrights that were transferred to Righthaven under the "newly modified" agreement?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 Nov 2011 @ 9:02am

"they're "authorized to use reasonable force in the execution of this Judgment/Order."

Well if they were running a torrent site that would mean a fully armed swat team kicking in their door. Hopefully they thought of something better for these guys
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
jayhawkeye2 (profile), 2 Nov 2011 @ 9:17am

Dibs on Gibson's Bluetooth!!!
That's gotta have some value?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 Nov 2011 @ 9:49am

Where are all the IP trolls proclaiming that Righthaven is right here? Where did they all go? They got this wrong too, just like they get most everything else wrong. Then they expect us to take them seriously.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Manabi (profile), 2 Nov 2011 @ 11:27am
  
  Re:
  To be fair, even most of the ardent IP trolls disliked Righthaven. Righthaven has proven time and time again that they were, at best, clueless idiots who were making utter fools of themselves and their whole legal "strategy". They've been an embarrassment to supporters of stronger IP laws (and lawyers) everywhere. I doubt anyone is going to miss them.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 2 Nov 2011 @ 1:40pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Don't worry, I'm sure AJ will show up soon to proclaim that everyone is wrong and Righthaven is just getting a bad deal.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Jay (profile), 2 Nov 2011 @ 9:53am

Man, I didn't know how right my poem would be. It's like watching slow motion train wreck. Righthaven just can't get it right...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 Nov 2011 @ 10:41am

Hmmm...methinks that even if you rip out all the copper pipes and wiring in their empty front offices, the US Marshals will not get anywhere close to $34K. I really hope they follow the paper trails as it was clear that Righthaven's delays were just buying time to get their assets moved so there will be nothing left to liquidate.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
DannyB (profile), 2 Nov 2011 @ 10:54am

If Stephens Media shares a 50 % stake in the proceeds . . .
If Stephens Media shares a 50 % stake in the proceeds of Righthaven, then shouldn't they also share 50 % of the stake through the heart?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Beta (profile), 2 Nov 2011 @ 11:13am

the sound of haunting laughter
I'd like to see video of the seizure, just on the off chance that when the marshals kick in the office door and march through they'll find themselves in the parking lot, while all the the Righthaven letterhead documents dissolve into smoke, Mangano's arms come off when they try to handcuff him and he collapses into a small heap of second-hand clothing and twigs, the other Righthaven staff are revealed to be merely painted on the wall--

No, on second thought I don't think I'd like to see the video; it can't possibly live up to my expectations.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]