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Righthaven Stops Showing Up In Court
Fluffeh writes "This story has gone from funny to sad. Following copyright-troll Righthaven's recent whipping by a judge, it now appears the company has just given up altogether. CEO Steve Gibson is working at another job (while being investigated by the Nevada Bar) and main lawyer Shawn Mangano apparently has completely stopped responding to all attempts to contact him, even by the court. All this has resulted in the key appeals in its cases to be dismissed 'for lack of prosecution.' Last Thursday it also had a key case closed, with prejudice, driving another nail in its already buried coffin."
"This story has gone from funny to said."
Another quality slashdot article!
Now that's a bizarre twist to that metaphor...
I'm the real Vorokrytin P. Winterbuttocks.
The court actually dug the coffin up, drove another nail into it, and reburied it. Yes, it was a lot of work, but the point needed to be proven that badly.
I wish I could ignore court orders and get on with my life. Somehow I don't think that works for people.
And in other news Darl McBride has announced that SCO will be merging with Righthaven to "Leverage synergistic energies to protect our customers"
IANAL, but is there some way to compel them to show up? Not to force them to prosecute their claims, but rather to compel them to answer for their frivolous lawsuits, for example?
I mean, lodging a lawsuit against someone causes emotional harm and waste of time and money if they did it with malice. Can there be restitution with any of their cases for the injured party? Although I know it may be very hard to prove...
With all Righthaven did, I wonder if this will simply be the end to the lawsuits. If so, this would be a really bad thing. When all is said and done, if the courts just shut down the lawsuits now, the folks behind Righthaven will have been able to sue a bunch of people and then walk away without any penalties. Sure, Righthaven will be shuttered, but there are indications that they shuttled assets elsewhere first to avoid paying debts. If the courts allow this, what's to stop any company from forming a shell company (to protect the parent), conducting a series of lawsuits, and simply dissolving the shell if things go badly? The downside here seems low and the upside (if you are successful in forcing people to settle) seems high. There needs to be a full investigation here with appropriate charges filed/fines issued to make sure other companies get the message that this is unacceptable.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
It's like in Moby Dick, the coffin was built for someone, then that someone didn't die, then it was nailed shut and used as a bouy, then it was dragged down to the depths without any human intervention, then ironically the person did die when the coffin would have saved them, but then without any human intervention it erupted back to the surface, saved someone else's life, and then... well, was probably discarded again, but that's neither here nor there. The point is, the coffin which already was buried was exhumed, had one additional useless nail driven in, and - well, it's something to do with hamburgers or cars I'm sure.
What seems like beating a dead horse is necessary in this case. You must continue to beat the horse even after the horse is long dead. It's like a course of antibiotics, it may seem like the infection is gone but if you stop too soon a resistant strain might come back.
So these guys just fucked their careers for life, for what? A promise of some $$$ at the end of the line....
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
..with hardly any punishment for the thousands of dollars of losses they inflicted on their victims. Makes me sick.
"Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
Nope. Still funny.
Leave the sun out of it. They're being investigated for enough crimes as it is.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
That seems to happen a lot. *trynottomentionwallstreet* *trynottomentionwallstreet*
The worrying thing is that it basically legitimizes patent trolling in that those wanting to organize a patent troll company now have a template to work from where they know they have a good chance of sponging lots of money and then escaping cleanly. Sure, the ending needs a little work, but most of the template is now proven solid.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
They sometimes seem to be just attracted to crime, rather than turning to it as a last resort or because it makes so much money. A great example is a guy here locally who would break in to newspaper dispensers to steal the money. Well this was fairly hard work, they are built nice n' sturdy and this guy didn't have some tool to bust them open real fast. Also it required a good bit of walking around to get to them, there aren't all that many and they aren't densely packed. Of course the biggest thing is the haul was exceedingly small. These things are not massive profit machines, he'd be lucky to find $5 in one.
The police said he literally would have made more money with a job at McDonalds at minimum wage. It wasn't as though he'd found a good way to make money, though illegal, he was really being an idiot about it.
Or take a look at people in the drug trade. Quite dangerous not just because it is illegal but because it is violent. Your competitors may well kill you. Now there's some considerable money to be made... For a few people. Yes there are some very rich drug lords, but not that many really. Compare it to regular legit business and you see a lot of similarities, except the the top legit businessmen make even MORE money, and do not fear for their lives. In either case those going in to it at a low level with the idea they will strike it rich are probably deluding themselves but in legit business if you "fail" and are just a regular worker you can end up with a good career and a retirement rather than a shallow unmarked grave.
Sounds more like they dug it up and fired it into the sun.
No, just drove another steak through it's heart and doused out with holy water again.
Some garlic sauce added, I presume? Or maybe it was frozen in the shape of a stake.
Infuriate left and right
Pity they didn't name it Rightcraven -- that would have been much more appropriate considering that they have turned tale and crawled away. What a pathetic waste of resources this whole farce was, not to mention torturing people who did not infringe a single copyright. I agree that this must not go unpunished. The lawyers should at least be brought before the bar, even if the corporate bankruptcy shields them from paying what they owe.