In what is widely seen as proof of the existence of karma, the copyright troll Righthaven has lost its domain name.
Righthaven attempted to make money by suing everyone who used certain news articles in their blogs. It threatened thousands of people, saying that if they did not pay up they would go to court and Righthaven would take their domain name off them.
This threat was used to apply to some of the bigger names in the tech press, including Ars Technica.
Righthaven initially was winning and settling cases as defendants paid a few thousand dollars each to make them go away. Fortunately, for the free speech rights of humanity it all went pear shaped for Righthaven as its legal get-rich-quick scheme appeared to flounder in court.
Now, according to Wired, the online domain for Righthaven has sold at auction for $3,300 to help satisfy the Las Vegas company’s debts.
Righthaven owes $63,000 in legal fees after it lost a case in which a federal judge said that reposting an entire news article in an online forum was fair use.
It is not clear who bought the domain name but it’s possible that the domain squatter picked it up hoping that all the links to the domain name might make it a bit of cash.
The cash is a drop in the bucket of the legal fees of Las Vegas lawyer Marc Randazza for successfully defending Vietnam veteran Wayne Hoen against a Righthaven copyright lawsuit that sought large damages for posting the entirety of a Las Vegas Review-Journal editorial to a small online message board.
Righthaven is still appealing that case, but has been hit by a separate order in October to pay $120,000 in legal fees in another case it had lost.
Article source: http://news.techeye.net/internet/mystery-bidder-takes-copyright-trolls-name. Creative Commons (CC)