Clayton has an interesting story about Righthaven, who had a court unseal the agreement they have with Stevens Media. Turns out they may not own the copyrights they are suing over after all. You can find more information about this over at the Righthaven Victim’s blog. The Las Vegas Sun reports attorneys are filing t have cases dismissed:
“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.
They said Righthaven perpetrated upon the court a “sham’’ and a “fraud’’ hundreds of times in its lawsuits by claiming in the lawsuits that Righthaven “owns’’ the copyrighted stories, photos and graphics it sues over, and has exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute them, when in fact its contract with Stephens Media says Stephens Media retains those rights.
I sincerely hope that everyone who settled with Righthaven will now be filing suit against Righthaven and Stevens Media to recover their settlement. I would imagine they would also be on the hook for attorneys fees as well.
Take them DOWN! Go Clayton!