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Monday, Feb. 21, 2011 | 11:49 a.m.
Las Vegas copyright enforcement company Righthaven LLC is promoting itself with a newly-active website, righthaven.com. On its website, Righthaven calls itself "the nation's pre-eminent copyright enforcer." Competitors like Attributor Corp. and the US Copyright Group may beg to differ ...
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Has Righthaven been so busy filing and settling lawsuits that it forgot to renew its state business license?
Its status with the Nevada Secretary of State as of Monday was listed as "default" after the license expired Jan. 31. Net Sortie Systems LLC, Las Vegas attorney Steven Gibson's company that co-owns Righthaven, is also listed as in default.
Gibson's partner in Righthaven is SI Content Monitor LLC of Little Rock, Ark., which is in good standing with the Arkansas Secretary of State.
SI Content Monitor is part of investment banking billionaire Warren Stephens' group of companies. The Stephens family also owns a chain of newspapers including the Las Vegas Review-Journal -- one of Righthaven's copyright enforcement partners.
Righthaven also works with the Denver Post.
Righthaven's "default" status will likely interest defendants in nine Righthaven lawsuits filed in Denver federal court this month over a Denver Post "TSA pat-down photo."
That's because Righthaven asserts in these lawsuits: "Righthaven is, and has been at all times relevant to this lawsuit, in good standing with the Nevada Secretary of State."
A message for comment on Righthaven's incorporation status was left with Gibson.
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A website critical of Righthaven, American Justice Dot Org, is urging webmasters to search the U.S. Copyright Office website to find copyrights Righthaven has obtained registrations for.
That way webmasters may avoid lawsuits by removing any Righthaven-owned content.
This may be of only limited benefit to webmasters, bloggers and content posters since Righthaven often sues over material it has obtained -- but has not yet received copyright registrations for.
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A search of the federal copyright database yields a couple of interesting registrations for Righthaven.
These are for porn movies "Ebony Amateurs Vegas Edition #10" and "Ebony Princess #3."
Records indicate Righthaven obtained the rights to these DVDs from U.V.C. Inc. of Van Nuys, Calif. U.V.C. does business as Heatwave Video.
Righthaven through late last week hadn't filed any federal copyright infringement lawsuits over these DVDs.
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Righthaven, in the meantime, has been busy settling lawsuits under undisclosed terms.
The latest Righthaven lawsuits to be settled or otherwise closed involved these defendants: Fred Bouzek and Biker News, Larry Scott, Ralph Roberts Realty, Internet Brands, MedicCom BBS, Automotive.com, RateMyCop.com, The Ad Network Inc. and Scott Arpajian.
Also, Nicole Hociung, Trauma Intervention Program of Southern Nevada, Don W. Joe, the Second Amendment Foundation, Bert L. Howe & Associates Inc. and James Howe, Independent Political Report, EMP Media Inc., Barry Shermer and Don T. Bradshaw; Industrial Wind Action Corp., Vegas Marketing Group and Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.
Also, Charles W. Johnson and Rad Geek Enterprises; Shaker Advertising Agency, Fan Sites Network, D. Scott Davis Jr., Jeff Buckner, MajorWager.com, AR15.com, Americans for Immigration Reform and Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee.
Also, Americans Against Food Taxes, National Wind Watch, Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, Connected Nation, DDS Enterprises, ThreeAll Inc., Fred Pruitt and Billy Bob Wells.
Chunky says:
Thank you Mr. Green for a well written Roundup. The Chunkmeister looks forward to the day you write the story of the demise of their business as well.
That's what Chunky thinks!
Lets see how long it takes for their site to be hacked. Plus as a web-designer I can honestly say this site sucks. A kindergartner could do a better job.
Righthaven needs to be taken down because they do not just have newspapers in mind as an avenue to sue people. Watch them pursue anything that goes viral on the Internet from any source and they will attempt to buy the copyright. This is an absolute threat to the Internet. Everyone must wake up to this.
We need to put presure on the Nevada Secretary of State to deny renewing their business licences and anyone who has been sued since 31Jan should send this information to the courts that Righthaven is operating illegally.
Oh man, now THAT is how not to impress people with a website. :)
the NV SOS permits you to pay your fees and stuff well after the deadline and it automatically cures any problems in that regard. Essentially, this is a non-issue, unless the default status goes on for quite a while.
I wonder if the court will consider it a non-issue. Seems to me it could make a big difference.
I think it is hilarous that the Sun turned off commenting on the story where the Greenspuns lost their shirt on the District investment.
That is soooooo funny.
Got to protect the boss.
I hope the Jahaovah's Witness' sue Righthaven for jacking their watchtower logo.
Do you think Righthaven's clients need to be impressed? Do you think anyone but these clients buy into the idea that Righthaven is a "technology company?" The 1996 look, feel and capability of the "one pager" suits Righthaven just perfectly. My guess is that it was done by the office errand boy.
"the nation's pre-eminent copyright enforcer." Makes you wonder if Righthaven isn't skirting Nevada's attorney advertising regulations. Shouldn't Gibson have to prove that Righthaven is the pre-eminent copyright enforcer?
American Justice Dot Org
This made me wonder about the effect of a Nevada LLC's defaulted status on its capacity to sue. It turns out the Nevada Supreme Court addressed this issue just a couple of months ago:
http://www.llclawmonitor.com/uploads/fil...
Ultimately, the Court reversed the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by an LLC who in the course of litigation defaulted on its corporate status, finding "[a]dministrative revocation of a domestic limited liability company's charter suspends the entity's right to transact business, not its ability to prosecute an ongoing suit." Superficially, this is a bad result for those Righhaven defendants who would wish to rely on Righthaven's defaulted corporate status, but it seems to me the Court's opinion provides some leeway to challenge a Righthaven lawsuit.
First, the Court's analysis draws a distinction between companies whose business is litigation and those who business is not litigation-related ("AA Primo's business is construction, not litigation."). Because Righthaven's entire business is suing purported copyright infringers, the suspension of its "right to transact business" should necessarily include its right to bring lawsuits.
Second, by its terms, the Court's opinion concerns itself with the effect of losing corporate status during the pendency of a lawsuit. For the Righthaven defendants sued since Righthaven's license expired at the end of January, this might make a difference.
Anyway, this is all probably academic, since it would require litigation that the Righthaven defendants cannot afford, and there doesn't seem to be any barrier to Righthaven's reinstatement once the appropriate fees and forms are filed.
No business license? All the lawsuits should be withdrawn, thrown out and put Right Haven out of business...the law is the law - they know that..use it against them for a change !