Squish: There Goes Righthaven-The Cockroach Of Law firms

How would you like to see a cockroach explode? Well, I can't show that, but I can show you something even more gross: A cockroach of a law firm exploding when the Federal Court system gets done with them. Righthaven is a law firm that initially worked with the Las Vegas Review Journal in suing bloggers who may have used copywritten articles and pictures from the LVRJ and now, the Denver Post, on their blogs. Granted, some of the articles written by the LVRJ were abused- some bloggers copied the entire article on their blog and didn't give credit to the LVRJ. That's just wrong. Others would copy a few paragraphs, give credit to the LVRJ and they were sued by Righthaven. Righthaven said that they obtained the copyrights from the LVRJ and Denver Posts after the story was written and after a blogger used the article on their blog. But now, it turns out, that Righthaven never had the full copyrights to the stories. From the Las Vegas Sun: Defense attorneys in at least two Righthaven LLC copyright infringement lawsuits filed motions to dismiss over the weekend, citing new evidence they say shows Righthaven has perpetrated a fraud on the federal court in Nevada. The evidence cited is the newly-unsealed Strategic Alliance agreement covering copyright assignments from Stephens Media LLC, owner of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, to Righthaven. In motions filed Sunday, attorneys with Randazza Legal Group said this contract shows Righthaven’s lawsuits are based on "sham’’ copyright claims since Stephens Media maintains control of the material covered by the copyrights. "Righthaven is neither the owner nor exclusive holder of any rights in the copyrighted work underlying this lawsuit. As such, Righthaven has suffered no injury or other cognizable harm required for it to have standing’’ to sue, said one of the filings by attorneys Marc J. Randazza and J. Malcolm DeVoy IV. "Indeed, the agreement makes it abundantly clear that Righthaven actually has no rights in the copyrights it claims,’’ the filing said. "The `assignment’ is a transparent sham that is designed to make Righthaven appear to be a copyright assignee for the purposes of filing suit, meanwhile the actual rights at issue are governed by this agreement, which renders the assignment meaningless,’’ their filing said. "This is not a true copyright ownership that Righthaven has acquired, nor is it even an exclusive license – it is simply an attempt to illegally assign a copyright claim,’’ the attorneys wrote. "Righthaven has willfully deceived this court. Righthaven fought mightily to keep this evidence from the public and from all defendants in its legion of cases brought in this district. An examination of the document and its implications for Righthaven’s business model make the reason plain – it reveals the unlawful nature of Righthaven’s actions before this court and renders all of its lawsuits null and void,’’ the filing said. http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/apr/17/attorneys-say-new-evidence-shows-fraud-righthaven/ It is now highly possible that everyone who has been sued by Righthaven will be filing a lawsuit against Righthaven to get any money paid or has spent to defend themselves. I can also see a class action lawsuit against Righthaven. Further, I can see Steven Gibson, lead lawyer for Righthaven, to be disbarred for misconduct in the Federal Courts. For more information about Righthaven and lawyers in general: