Some background first. Righthaven was the creation of Las Vegas Review-Journal Publisher Sherman Frederick and Las Vegas attorney Steven Gibson, who dreamt up the concept as a means of striking back at publications that were using R-J content. Stephens Media, owner of the paper, provided seed money. The Denver Post was also enlisted as an ally, as were an Arkansas TV station and the owner of the San Jose Mercury News. Copyrights to R-J and Post material were then re-assigned to Righthaven – kind of, sort of – but we’ll get to that. Although it went after a few major targets, Righthaven quickly developed notoriety for suing cat bloggers, dog-bite bloggers, and other small fry.
During a 15-month period between March 2010 and June 11, Righthaven conducted a 15-month reign of terror, filing 275 lawsuits. Its standard tactic was to forego cease-and-desist letters in favor of summarily demanding settlements in the thousands of dollars and forfeiture of domain names. Since most of its victims were of limited means, they had little choice but to buckle under to Righthaven pressure. As Kurt Opsahl of the Electronic Frontier Foundation said, "Despite what Righthaven claims, it's hard to interpret these lawsuits as anything else besides a way to bully Internet users into paying unnecessary settlements."
Former Las Vegas Sun reporter Steve Green, in a 2015 Orange County Register retrospective on the scandal, chronicles that "Righthaven’s biggest PR debacle was its lawsuit against Brian Hill, who turned out to be a 20-year-old blogger in North Carolina with a mild form of autism, diabetes, and hyperactive disorder." Hill’s misdeed, as it were, was to post a photo of a TSA pat-down that he mistakenly thought was in the public domain. It turned out that the picture was copyrighted to the Denver Post and Righthaven sicced its legal dogs on Hill.
"After it was learned that Hill had disabilities, Righthaven’s problems mounted when Hill charged that Righthaven attorneys had insisted that he pay $6,000 and that if need be, Righthaven would garnish a portion of his Social Security Disability Insurance income for 10 years at $50 per month until the $6,000 was paid." This led to a denunciation from Reporters Without Borders and, eventually, the Post’s withdrawal from Righthaven. Incoming CEO John Paton said he’d never have signed on to the Righthaven scheme, calling it "a dumb idea from the start."
Meanwhile, Gibson also zeroed in on Las Vegas Advisor and its publisher, Anthony Curtis: "He had provided some proprietary data on Las Vegas show prices to the Review-Journal for a story, making that story possible, and then was sued without warning after posting the story on his [own] website, crediting the Review-Journal," Green wrote. Curtis called the litigation "ironic and stupid."
Tune in Thursday (following tomorrow's new LVA Reader Poll) for Part II of this saga and Righthaven's ultimate undoing.
