Righthaven appeals for right to file copyright suits over Denver Post material

Copyright lawsuit filer Righthaven LLC of Las Vegas on Tuesday asked an appeals court to revive its right to sue over Denver Post content.

Righthaven, as it indicated earlier it would do, filed a notice of appeal in U.S. District Court for Colorado and the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver asking the appeals court to overturn Senior U.S. District Judge John Kane’s ruling of Sept. 27 finding Righthaven lacked standing to sue in Colorado’s federal court.

It likely will be months before Righthaven files its opening brief with the appeals court. That’s likely to be followed by several months of the parties trading briefs and then oral arguments before the court issues a ruling.

Kane ruled Righthaven couldn’t pursue an infringement lawsuit against Leland Wolf and the “It Makes Sense Blog” because Righthaven, despite its claims of ownership and the right to sue over accrued infringements, didn’t control a copyright to a Denver Post TSA pat-down photo.

The case against Wolf was one of 34 Righthaven suits that were open in Colorado.

Since the Sept. 27 ruling, Righthaven has voluntarily dismissed 26 of the Colorado cases. The court clerk appears to have closed those cases, but defense attorneys may try to reopen some of them, so Righthaven’s dismissals are with prejudice, meaning Righthaven can’t sue over the same alleged infringements in the future.

A 27th case is in the process of being settled, Righthaven told the court.

Kane, in the meantime, on Tuesday stayed action until Oct. 27 — which had been Righthaven’s appeal deadline — in six more cases where the defendants had filed answers and, in some cases, counterclaims to Righthaven’s lawsuits.

At issue now is whether they’ll remain stayed during Righthaven’s appeal, whether the counterclaims can proceed or whether Kane will dispose of the lawsuits on a summary judgment basis against Righthaven and award the defendants their attorney’s fees — as he did for Wolf.

Righthaven, however, is likely to fight any fee request from the Colorado defendants just as it has fought requests for fees from Nevada defendants that defeated Righthaven in court.

Righthaven on Sunday asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which covers Nevada, to set aside an order that it post a $34,045 bond to cover a prevailing Nevada defendant’s legal fees.

Righthaven said it’s been unable to secure a bond and is short on cash, as legal defeats and stays in its litigation campaign have reduced revenue from lawsuit settlements.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the 9th Circuit hadn’t acted on that request.

Righthaven since March 2010 has filed 275 no-warning lawsuits alleging online infringements of material from the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Denver Post, though the campaign ground to a halt this summer after successive legal defeats by Righthaven.

The Denver Post has canceled its copyright lawsuit contract with Righthaven, and the company now hopes one of the Nevada federal judges will revive its right to sue over R-J material.

Legal

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