Righthaven Has Insufficient Rights to Sue, Dismissed From Case, Could Face Sanctions

An agreement that purports to transfer all necessary rights from an assignor to an assignee, yet specifically retains for the assignor the right to sue for future infringement, is nothing more than a “fabrication” that does not give the assignee standing to sue for copyright infringement, the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada ruled June 14 (Righthaven LLC v. Democratic Underground LLC, D. Nev., 2:10-cv-01356-RLH-GWF, 6/14/11).

After determining that an agreement between Stephens Media Inc. and Righthaven LLC failed to transfer the necessary rights that would permit Righthaven to bring a copyright infringement suit against a ...