Properties previously acquired by the “company” have been turned over to lawyers, as Righthaven’s debt in legal fees mounted. You can read about the events here.

Rimon Law Group has issued a press release about the auctions, which Partner and Chief Sustainability Officer Lara Pearson tipped us off to. The release says:

This is the third auction of Righthaven property to satisfy court judgments against the Las Vegas company. The RIGHTHAVEN service mark was sold for $1025.00 in an auction that closed this morning. The auctions are being conducted by the court-appointed receiver for Righthaven, Lara Pearson, Esq., operating under the eBay seller name courtappointedreceiver.

It’s mostly sports titles, with a little bit of porn sprinkled in. I’ve linked all the listings below. The porn descriptions are pretty funny (don’t worry, there’s no NSFW imagery or anything, though the language is as strong as you’d probably imagine).

The listings include:

“Ebony Princess #3.” – Copyright

“Browns Damn right I’m backing Cleveland 11-14-10.” – Copyright

“UTAH The pointspread took a big plunge on Tuesday 12-22-10.” – Copyright

“Ebony Amateurs Vegas Edition #10.” – Copyright

“Rockets 11-10-10.” – Copyright

“OREGON Let’s go over some undisputed facts. 01-10-11.” – Copyright

“Ravens If you haven’t heard it by now 11-11-10.” – Copyright

“Analysis Thank Ohio University for this play 11-17-10.” – Copyright

“Over the total Michigan is going to score points 11-13-10.” – Copyright

“Hawks 11-10-10.” – Copyright

“Tonight’s top play 01-15-11.” – Copyright

“Temple How can a team 11-16-10.” – Copyright

“Ravens These two very good teams meet 11-11-10.” – Copyright

“ROCKETS (plus the points and money-line) 7-0 That’s the Rockets’ record 01-21-11.” – Copyright

“Suns Absolutely ridiculous pointspread 11-17-10.” – Copyright

“TENNESSEE How do you lay points 01-05-11.” – Copyright

“RAVENS 80-116. You know what that is? 01-09-11.” – Copyright

Mother’s Day is coming up, so…something to think about if she likes copyrights. Starting bids are at $50! The auctions end at 8:00 p.m. PDT on Saturday May 5, 2012.

Earlier this year, we saw Righthaven.com taken over by a new entity with a sense of humor.

Just before the weekend a Nevada federal district court decided they have had enough of these type of nuisance lawsuits and decided to make it harder for trolls like Righthaven to profit off of them. Judge Roger Hunt, who presided over the latest Righthaven case ruled that the material in question is now considered “fair use” and therefor not infringement.

Here’s a definition for “fair use” according to the Internet Law Treatise:

“The fair use doctrine “creates a limited privilege in those other than the owner of a copyright to use the copyrighted material in a reasonable manner without the owner’s consent,” Fisher v. Dees, 794 F.2d 432, 435 (9th Cir. 1986), and “permits and requires courts to avoid rigid application of the copyright statute when, on occasion, it would stifle the very creativity which that law is designed to foster.” Campbell, 510 U.S. at 577 (internal quotation marks omitted).”

Righthaven CEO Steven A. Gibson has been losing cases left and right regarding simple infringement instances. The latest case involved an online publication called ‘Democratic Underground‘ who posted a paragraph from an online newspaper in reference to their own story and linked back to the newspaper. Righthaven claimed they owned the rights to the newspaper article and sued the publisher of the Democratic Underground.

Judge Hunt commented in his statement regarding the case:

“That the act of posting this five-sentence excerpt of a fifty sentence news article on
a political discussion forum is a fair use pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 107, and that the fair use doctrine provides a complete defense to the claim of copyright infringement from which this suit arose. Judgment on the Counterclaim is accordingly entered in favor of Democratic Underground and against Counter Defendant Stephens Media, LLC.”

This case should set a precedent for others who seek to profit off petty infringements and discourage future lawsuits which tend to tie up court systems and punish those who have no intent on stealing other people’s intellectual property.

Meanwhile, Righthaven has had the tables turned on them and various courts are seeking reparations for clients who have had to payout huge sums to defend against legal advances from the copyright troll LLC. Recently the CEO of Righthaven has had his bank accounts seized by the government and his assets auctioned off. Perhaps we have seen the end of petty infringement cases like these.

The owners of the domain put up a message on the site promoting content creation and indicating that it will soon be opening up a hosting service “with backbone”. Discussing about how SOPA blackout day fades from view “but not from importance,” the message said:

Recent events and the pavlovian salivating of certain legislators upon hearing the fundraising dinner bell ringing from the Beverly Hills Hotel have certainly reminded us that the internet naming system is a serious choke point for any online enterprise. In selecting our partners we wanted to make sure we teamed up with a domain registrar and DNS host who had a history of treating third party requests skeptically, but respectfully. We wanted a partner who wouldn’t dissolve into incontinent fits and roll over on getting a call from United States Senator Joseph Lieberman’s office intern, for instance. We found that partner in Toronto based easyDNS. easyDNS has been providing clueful and spineful DNS and registry services since 1998. Their four-continent anycast DNS cluster fits the bill. Plus, easyDNS’ founder, Mark Jeftovic, is the essence of a spineful owner.

On a FAQ page, the new Righthaven.com says:

Righthaven, LLC is a United States based firm in the state of Nevada that amassed some notoriety for aggressively suing bloggers and internet forum commenters at the drop of a hat. In fact, they might fairly be counted among the “prolific litigants” we mentioned in our answer to the previous question.

Initially, we were merely casually interested observers in the legal wrangling that followed and eventually resulted in the auctioning off of the righthaven domain. Once we noticed that, however, we couldn’t resist acquiring it.

But anyway…we covered this yesterday, which led to the new Righthaven.com (going by the Twitter handle @righthavened) sending us the following tweets:

We’re not the only ones they’re having fun with. Here’s one referencing some coverage on TechDirt:

The humor continues on the new Righthaven.com blog, with a post defining “righthavened”. The definition goes:

right·havened, v.

1. trans. To turn the tables on.
2. To inflict total karmic defeat upon, especially by means of an opponent’s purported strengths.
3. To reclaim a maligning term and adopt it as a banner.
4. @righthavened; see: Twitter

For more background on why this amusing, peruse our past Righthaven coverage.

First, just read the message:

Most Revered Content Creator,

Righthaven.com

The aforementioned FAQ has a little nugget about Righthaven itself:

Righthaven, LLC is a United States based firm in the state of Nevada that amassed some notoriety for aggressively suing bloggers and internet forum commenters at the drop of a hat. In fact, they might fairly be counted among the “prolific litigants” we mentioned in our answer to the previous question.

Initially, we were merely casually interested observers in the legal wrangling that followed and eventually resulted in the auctioning off of the righthaven domain. Once we noticed that, however, we couldn’t resist acquiring it.

It will be interesting to see how the service unfolds on the site. And Righthaven’s response to it for that matter.

Now, when you go to righthaven.com, you are greeted with the image above. Any guesses as to what this is about?

Interestingly, Google appeared in court, and spoke out against Righthaven on Friday, Vegas Inc. reports. It says:

Righthaven, in asking the 9th Circuit to overturn Mahan, argued that in the 9th Circuit, there’s “almost a per se pronouncement against a finding of fair uses in cases of 100 percent unauthorized replication.”

“That simply is not the law, nor should it be. Indeed, adoption of any such per se rule would wreak havoc on businesses like Google, whose ability to offer innovative and useful services to the public depends on the adaptability of the fair use doctrine,” Google’s filing said.

I’m not sure how long this is going to go on, but clearly Righthaven is not going down with a fight, as it continues to appeal cases it lost in the name of fair use, and on grounds that it’s business model itself is suspect, or in other words, has a “lack of standing”.

It ended up going for $3,300. That’s unfortunate for Righthaven, seeing as how they’ve been ordered to pay about $60,000 more in court.

For Righthaven, commonly referred to as a “copyright troll,” having to auction off its domain was rather ironic, as the “company” sought the domains of other sites in its quest for copyright infringement “justice”. As courts tended to rule on the side of fair use in these cases, things got financially worse and worse for Righthaven, which brings us to why it has let its domain go for just over three grand.

While it’s not an incredibly high amount, especially considering the amount Righthaven owes, how much value does this domain really hold anyway?

Is the buyer (which is unknown) looking to capitalize on that awesome brand power of the Righthaven name?

(hat tip to DomainNameWire)

If you’re not familiar with the story, the irony here is that RightHaven itself has sought the domains of other sites, which it deemed in violation of its copyrights. For more backstory on RightHaven, see our previous coverage here.

After losing in court a number of times (losing out to fair use), Righthaven has been unable to pay its own fines and legal fees, delaying payment to avoid bankruptcy. Earlier this month, a judge ruled for Righthaven’s copyrights to be auctioned off. On Monday, the domain name went up for auction.

At the time of this writing, there are six bidders, and the auction goes on until January 6. There was reportedly an initial minimum bid price of $100. It’s currently at $1,300.

Righthaven CEO Steve Gibson (along with his wife) is due in court on January 6, the same day as the auction is scheduled to end.

You can see our past coverage of the Righthaven saga here. The last time we checked in, Righthaven received a huge dose of irony, as a defendant sought Righthaven’s own assets.

That’s because Righthaven has had a hard time coming up with the money it’s been ordered to pay. It was recently ordered to pay one fine of about $34K, in addition to various other smaller ones. But now, The Las Vegas Sun is reporting (hat tip: Ars Technica) that Righthaven has ordered to pay a much larger fine in a different case – a whopping $119,488 in attorney’s fees and legal costs. Ouch. Steve Green, writing for the publication says, this is the largest fee they’ve been ordered to pay, but will likely “be dwarfed by an upcoming award in Righthaven’s failed suit against the Democratic Underground.

This is a case we’ve looked at in the past. Back in the summer, a Las Vegas judge dismissed it.

In fact, Righthaven has been dealt a number of blows throughout the year, as referenced throughout that aforementioned previous coverage.

Things are looking pretty bleak for the company that is commonly referred to around the web as the “copyright troll”.

Then, even the publisher of MediaNews Group, which employed Righthaven’s services said the whole thing was a “dumb idea”.

For more background on the Righthaven saga, view previous coverage here.

Now, PaidContent is reporting that the legal team of Wayne Hoehn, which was a defendant against one of Righthaven’s suits – in fact, the would be recipient of the $34K, is asking a Nevada federal judge for permission to take ownership of Righthaven’s assets.

The irony here is that Righhaven has sought the domains of publications it deemed offenders of copyright infringement in the past.

Jeff Roberts reports:

In weekend filings, lawyers for Wayne Hoehn asked a Nevada federal judge for permission to seize Righthaven’s “bank accounts, real and personal property, and intangible intellectual property rights.”

Apparently, Hoehn’s team is also trying to get the court to find Righthaven in contempt for ignoring orders to pay that money.

Righthaven has filed over 275 suits, and if Hoehn’s team gets its way, it may have just filed its last. If things were already looking bleak for Righthaven, this doesn’t paint a much brighter picture.

Now even MediaNews Group, which has employed Righthaven’s services in relation to its newspapers like the Denver Post (it has about 50 of them) is saying the whole thing was a “dumb idea.”

Wired, who interviewed CEO John Paton, quotes him as saying: “The issues about copyright are real. But the idea that you would hire someone on an — essentially — success fee to run around and sue people at will who may or may not have infringed as a way of protecting yourself … does not reflect how news is created and disseminated in the modern world….I come from the idea that it was a dumb idea from the start.”

The publisher terminated its relationship with Righthaven in August, and Paton just assumed his new role last week, replacing Dean Singleton.

It will be interesting to see if Righthaven’s other partners, namely Stephens Media (which publishes the Las Vegas Review Journal), follow the lead of MediaNews Group.

Judges have been ruling on the side of fair use in recent Righthaven cases, essentially rendering the company’s services ineffective. Though the appeal process must still play out, things aren’t looking incredibly bright for the future of this copyright “protection” strategy.