Righthaven copyright claims attacked in more cases

Claims by Las Vegas newspaper copyright enforcer Righthaven LLC that it “owns” the copyrights it sues for are under attack in two more of its lawsuits.

After a judge in Las Vegas last week unsealed Righthaven’s lawsuit contract with the owner of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, attorneys in two cases filed dismissal motions, saying the contract shows Righthaven has no standing to sue because its claims of copyright ownership are false.

Those cases involved copyright infringement lawsuit defendants Vote For The Worst LLC of Lehi, Utah; and Kentucky message-board poster Wayne Hoehn.

The same attorneys are part of the legal team representing the Media Bloggers Association, which is intervening as a friend of the court in the case of defaulting Righthaven defendant Bill Hyatt.

In Hyatt’s case, the Media Bloggers on Tuesday introduced the Righthaven-Stephens Media LLC lawsuit contract for Review-Journal lawsuits, saying it “changes the lens through which the court views” the bloggers’ opening brief.

In that opening brief, the bloggers’ attorneys hammered away on Righthaven, charging that as far as copyright enforcement goes: “Righthaven protects nothing but itself and serves no purpose but to sue others who may have valid defenses to infringement but, as in this case, cannot afford to raise them. It has no interest in producing or protecting the market for original content, and in fact exists solely to profit from it.”

Righthaven hasn’t yet responded to the bloggers’ brief but has said the bloggers are no friend of the court as the group is biased against Righthaven.

And attorneys for a fourth Righthaven defendant, South Carolina blogger Dana Eiser, filed a renewed motion to dismiss Tuesday — though her case doesn’t involve the Righthaven-Stephens Media contract.

Her case involves Righthaven’s contract with MediaNews Group, owner of the Denver Post.

It’s unknown whether that contract includes the same language as the Stephens Media contract, but attorneys for Eiser suggested Tuesday that because of Righthaven’s conduct in other states, its ownership of the copyright in the South Carolina lawsuit over a Denver Post column is suspect.

“Righthaven has failed to make any showing whatsoever that it actually owns the copyright to ‘A letter to the Tea Partyers’ described in the (lawsuit) complaint,” Eiser’s attorneys said in their filing.

“Righthaven’s claims are merely conclusory and consist of mere recitations of the elements of ownership of a copyright. There is, in fact, plenty of reason to believe Righthaven is not the owner of the copyright. ‘A letter to the Tea Partyers’ was written by Mike Rosen — not Righthaven — and published in the Denver Post — also not Righthaven,” Eiser’s motion said.

“The defendant has good reason to believe, based on plaintiff’s conduct in other cases around the country, that plaintiff does not actually hold a legal ownership interest in the copyright at issue here. That the complaint is utterly devoid of any factual allegations supporting ownership further suggests that defendant’s suspicions are valid,” the motion said.

Righthaven hasn’t yet responded to this motion, but in an amended lawsuit against Eiser on April 7, Righthaven declared: “Righthaven is the owner of the copyright in the literary work entitled: ‘A letter to the Tea Partyers.’ Righthaven obtained ownership of the copyright in and to the work through a valid and enforceable assignment from the original owner of the rights in and to the work.”

“Righthaven holds the exclusive right to reproduce the work (column),” as well as the exclusive right to prepare derivative works based on the column and the exclusive rights to distribute and publicly display the column, Righthaven’s lawsuit against Eiser said.

That’s the same language in Righthaven’s lawsuits over Review-Journal material that defense attorneys say is plainly contradicted by the Righthaven/Review-Journal lawsuit agreement.

With their filing, Eiser’s attorneys may have put Righthaven in the position to prove it actually “owns” the copyright to the Denver Post column and, through discovery, Eiser’s attorneys may then get a look at the Righthaven/Denver Post lawsuit contract.

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