June 17, 2011 10:41 PM UTC

Righthaven Lambasted By Nevada Federal Judge

• 10 Comments
• by: ohwilleke

(What’s that? Righthaven might have to go out of business? Darn!

*Note: Righthaven was not involved in the “cease and desist” letter sent by The Denver Post last year. – promoted by Colorado Pols)

Righthaven, in a copyright suit against the Democratic Underground website, has been had its case dismissed by a Nevada federal judge on grounds that threaten the validity of every single one of its other pending lawsuits (specifically that it didn’t own the copyrights that it claimed to be suing on), faces punitive sanctions in this case and more than two hundred other lawsuits, and has been found to have probably engaged in frauds on the court and other serious litigation misconduct.  The June 14 ruling would put Righthaven out of business if not reversed on appeal.

Righthaven has also initiated litigation on behalf of the media group that owns the Denver Post and sent a cease and desist letter to Colorado Pols which has impacted its citation practices for many months.  Its litigation strategy has been remarkably aggresive towards bloggers and the subject of widespread criticism.  It has recently lost at least two significant cases on fair use grounds and been criticized for claiming greater scope for newpaper copyrights than is allowed by law.  

Thirty-five Colorado lawsuits have been stayed by U.S. District Court Judge Kane since late May pending allegations of similar misconduct in Colorado.