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).

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.

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?

Filed Under: copyright, fraud, south carolina, unauthorized practice of law
Companies: righthaven

Claim That Righthaven Engaged In Unauthorized Practice Of Law Moves To Nevada

from the and-onwards,-I-suppose dept

We recently wrote about a filing in South Carolina, claiming that Righthaven was engaged in the unauthorized practice of law. The petition carefully laid out how Righthaven's practices might qualify as such in a variety of states, so it's little surprise that the same argument has now also been filed in a case in Nevada, where the largest chunk of Righthaven cases have been filed. I wouldn't be surprised to see the same thing filed in Colorado soon as well. You can see the filing below... and right after it you can see that the judge accepted the filing almost immediately, before Righthaven had a chance to protest:

The court has reviewed the proposed brief and agrees that it may be useful to the court in ruling on the pending order to show cause why the case should not be dismissed for lack of standing

Once again, things are not looking very good for Righthaven these days. But, of course, I'm sure the judges are just doing this because they believe in Righthaven, and just want to give "guidance" to competitors... Yeah, that's the ticket...

Filed Under: nevada, unauthorized practice of law
Companies: righthaven

Petition To South Carolina Supreme Court Charges Righthaven With Unauthorized Practice Of Law

from the gift-that-keeps-on-giving dept

We just wrote about the effort by one of the people sued by Righthaven to file a massive response with counterclaims. One of those claims was that Righthaven was involved in the unauthorized practice of law in South Carolina. Now, the very same legal team has petitioned the South Carolina State Supreme Court -- which has specifically asked people to petition it on the unauthorized practice of law -- in order to get a declaratory judgment on the issue. The claims in this petition match, pretty much exactly, the claim in the original response lawsuit (with some more detail), but taking it straight to the state Supreme Court is definitely an interesting move.

To be honest, I've always found statutes or rules against "the unauthorized practice of law" to be a bit questionable in general. People should be able to avail themselves of the legal system without a lawyer, if they so choose (even if it's not very smart), and requiring one to become "licensed" has always struck me as much more of a method of limiting supply (and increasing costs), rather than any real attempt to maintain quality. That said, the unauthorized practice of law, remains against the law, and it appears that Righthaven may have to defend itself on this one.

The filing does list out some interesting cases, basically state by state by state by state, that highlight "sham" assignments for the sake of lawsuits, and compares them all to Righthaven... and then notes that Righthaven is worse than almost all of those other cases:

Righthaven is far worse than the debt collectors referenced in the cases cited above. In every single one of those cases, the debt collector at least tried to collect the debt prior to litigation.... But with Righthaven, its first and only act in the collection of alleged debts is to prosecute a lawsuit. That is all Righthaven does and all it ever did. Righthaven is not a debt collector who unintentionally ran afoul of the law of unauthorized practice, Righthaven is an entity set up ab initio for the express purpose of committing the unauthorized practice of law.

Clearly, it seems the lawyers are hoping for a sympathetic ruling here in the South Carolina Supreme Court, which will, in turn, help even further the claims in the original case, that this whole thing is really racketeering. I still think that claim is a long shot, but if this petition actually goes forward, Righthaven may be in a lot more trouble than it had ever imagined.

As with the response in the lawsuit, this petition has some amusing moments. My favorite, concerning Righthaven's continued (and continuing) efforts to rewrite its agreement with Stephens Media to get just enough control to be allowed to sue, the filing mocks the repeated attempts by Righthaven to find the magic words, and says:

It's a wonder Righthaven's pleadings don't end with 'arbracadabra.'

It also later claims: "Righthaven and the truth are not well acquainted." It's always fun when you find a lawyer who's willing to go out on a limb a bit with some humor in these filings, though, certainly, some courts have problems with such cheeky attitudes. Either way, if these lawsuits do well, Righthaven may be in a lot more trouble than people already think it's in.

Filed Under: copyright, fraud, south carolina, unauthorized practice of law
Companies: righthaven