Righthaven Loses Again (Yes, Again), With Another Judge... But Immediately Refiles Lawsuit
from the definition-of-insanity dept
Ah, Righthaven. The company has lost yet again, as another Nevada judge has said that the company has no standing to bring the lawsuit. The ruling, from Judge Kent Dawson covers some similar ground to earlier dismissals from Judge Roger Hunt and Judge Philip Pro, citing the Silvers v. Sony Pictures case, which makes it clear that you can't just transfer the "right to sue" over copyrights, and highlighting the agreement between Stephens Media and Righthaven that made it clear that the "transfer" of copyrights was a sham.Judge Dawson also addresses the "amended agreement" that Righthaven made with Stephens Media on May 9th in its attempt to get around the sham transfer, but the judge doesn't buy it (Judge Pro and Judge Hunt both expressed skepticism about this amendment), noting that it only matters what the facts were when the complaint was filed, and this attempt to change the rules later in the game is not allowed:
This amendment, however, cannot create standing because “[t]he existence of federal jurisdiction ordinarily depends on the facts as they exist when the complaint was filed.” Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 571 n.4 (1992) (quoting Newman-Green, Inc. v. Alfonzo- Larrain, 490 U.S. 826, 830 (1989)) (emphasis in Lujan). Although a court may allow parties to amend defective allegations of jurisdiction, it may not allow the parties to amend the facts themselves. Newman- Green, 490 U.S. at 830. As an example, a party who misstates his domicile may amend to correctly state it. This is an amendment of the allegation. However, that party is not permitted to subsequently move in order to change his domicile and amend accordingly. This would be an amendment of the jurisdictional facts, which is not allowed. See id. Here, Plaintiff and Stephens Media attempt to impermissibly amend the facts to manufacture standing. Therefore, the Court shall not consider the amended language of the SAA, but the actual assignment and language of the SAA as it existed at the time the complaint was filed.Amazingly... Righthaven hasn't gotten the lesson yet, and isn't given up. Almost immediately after Judge Dawson dismissed the complaint, Righthaven refiled the lawsuit, claiming that with its new amendment to the strategic agreement, it now has standing to sue. It will be interesting to see how the judges react here, as they've shown a few signs of getting tired of Righthaven's attempts to continue with this copyright trolling.
Filed Under: copyright, lawsuits
Companies: righthaven