Judge nails the final nail in Righthaven's coffin. The only question now is how much Stephens Media and News Group will pay for this mess they have caused.

Shermie said people Righthaven are suing should have their hands cut off. Now he may have to place his own money in one of those hands. How sweet it is.

bofx

No agreement between Righthaven and Stephens Media can insulate Stephens Media from being sued by another party. Their agreement only means Righthaven cannot turn around and sue Stephens Media.

This is good that individuals and not just Righthaven are named in this suit. Shermie and Gibson and everyone involved deserve to lose everything over this. As lawyers and media people they have grossly abused the public trust. They deserve to live out the rest of their days ruined and destitute.

S Stern

In the case of Brian Hill and his attorney David Kerr it was infact Righthaven who divulged the "confidential" aspects of the case when they filed a response to the court. They divulged parts of the case to make Brian Hill look like he had not been negotiating in good faith. As a result David Kerr had no choice but to present all the facts in the case to show the facts did not support Righthaven's assertions.

Also since there was no settlement reached in the case of Brian Hill they were not subject to any permanent gag order.

S Stern

I know of several cases this is true. It may not be for all cases particularly some of the earlier cases. They may have started doing this after many Righthaven victims, including yourself, began publicly speaking out. This indicates they wanted to use the settlement process to silence victims.

Gag orders regarding settlements and particulars in a case is common but to impose lifelong gag orders that include speaking of the plaintiff generally is not common.

uh-oh

That is what is so egregious with what Righthaven did to Brian Hill because they were making threats in direct violation of Federal Law. They also sought to force Brian to falsely admit publicly he had lied about what Righthaven had done. It was infact Brian that offered to settle for $1 but Righthaven is now making the claim it was them who offered the $1 settlement. They also demanded Brian remove every comment he had ever made and ask that all bloggers and news outlets including myself that we remove any article we had written about Brian Hills case and that Brian could never utter the name Righthaven again in any context without their permission, EVER.

It has come to light that this permanent gag order is standard for every person who has settled with Righthaven so people like Matt Drudge and Alex Jones may have agreed to never utter the name Righthaven in any context for the rest of their lives or face a $10,000 penalty.

This attack on Brian Hill's First Amendment Rights is what Brian found unacceptable.

The EFF or another lawyer counter-suing Righthaven should ask the judge to force Righthaven to turn over the copyrights to the works they "own". This would put Righthaven in the awkward position of explaining why computers and domain names should be seized but copyrights should not be. It would also put the Denver Post and LVRJ in a situation where they could lose the copyrights to their works.

"The outrage is that other defendants do not"", Law Med Consulting LLC

Hear that Matt Drudge and Alex Jones? Here are people who have the means and fight unlike those who had the means and gave up their First Amendment rights to just make it go away leaving those without the means to fend for themselves.

I think Stephens Media is counting on just having Righthaven file for bankruptcy when the liabilities build up then fold in hopes they can wipe out all the liabilities without effecting Stephens Media. This may be Righthaven's ultimate purpose to fall on the sward for Stephens Media as a last resort. Even their agreement points to this.