E-newspaper copyright troll Righthaven continues to experience setbacks. Since it is unclear whether Righthaven actually has any legal standing to bring these copyright lawsuits, Judge John Kane has put all Righthaven suits in the state of Colorado on hold until the issue of standing is resolved.
“Because there are serious questions as to whether my exercise of subject matter jurisdiction over Righthaven’s claim of copyright infringement is proper, I think it most prudent to stay the proceedings in all pending cases in this District in which Righthaven is the named Plaintiff,” wrote the judge yesterday. “Should I find that I lack subject matter jurisdiction over Righthaven’s claim of copyright infringement, it is likely that I will be required to dismiss all pending actions.”
Kane has previously made his disdain for Righthaven’s lawsuit-as-business-model attitude known in other orders. It seems likely that if the standing issue unfolds as it appears set to, he will dismiss all the lawsuits at the earliest opportunity.
Perhaps Righthaven should actually be called “Rights Haven’t.”
