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IN BUSINESS COURTS JUDGE: RIGHTHAVEN MASQUERADING AS LAW FIRM By Steve Green senior staff writer A judge fined newspaper copyright lawsuit filer Righthaven LLC of Las Vegas $5,000 for misleading federal court in Nevada about its lawsuits. A Righthaven attorney, Shawn Mangano, said after a hearing before U.S. District Court Judge Roger Hunt that the firm may appeal the sanction and that its lawsuits will continue. Hunt said Righthaven deliberately failed to disclose that the owner of the Las Vegas Review-Journal shares in Righthaven’s lawsuit revenue. But, without explanation, Hunt didn’t sanction any of the attorneys who may have been responsible for the misrepresentation. Mangano said he and two former Righthaven in-house attorneys, Joseph Chu and J. Charles Coons, made an honest mistake by failing to disclose the interest of Stephens Media LLC in Righthaven’s lawsuits over Review- amendment to its lawsuit contract with Stephens Media, now insists it has solid standing to sue over Las Vegas Review- Journal material. Judge Hunt dismissed Righthaven’s lawsuit against the Democratic Underground because of the standing issue and at that time threatened sanctions, saying Righthaven had made “multiple inaccurate and likely dishonest statements to the court.” Judge Hunt elaborated on those concerns during last week’s hearing. Interestingly, he started out by saying Righthaven—a corporation not licensed to practice law—has been acting like a law firm. “In the court’s view, the arrangement between Righthaven and Stephens Media is nothing more, nor less, than a law firm—which incidentally I don’t think is licensed to practice law in this state—with a contingent fee agreement masquerading as a company.” Journal material. But Hunt noted it was Righthaven CEO and Las Vegas attorney Steven Gibson who drew up the lawsuit contract between Righthaven and Stephens Media. Defense attorneys have said it was Gibson who personally signed off on some of the false disclosures and that Gibson is behind the entire Righthaven litigation campaign. Besides the $5,000 sanction, Hunt ordered Righthaven to disclose its original lawsuit contract with Stephens Media in active lawsuits over Review- Journal material. He also ordered that a transcript of the hearing, in which he made several negative comments about Righthaven’s conduct, be posted on Righthaven court dockets. The sanctions could have been far more severe, including disqualification of attorneys. But even with the relatively light sanction, Mangano said Righthaven is considering appealing because Hunt based the sanction on grounds that Righthaven wasn’t given a chance to respond to. Besides suing over alleged online infringements of material from the Review-Journal, Righthaven sues over Denver Post material as well. Including a new suit filed Wednesday, it has filed 275 lawsuits since March 2010. Besides dealing with the sanctions issue, Righthaven has seen three federal judges in Nevada dismiss some of its suits based on Righthaven’s lack of standing this summer—and additional judges in Nevada and Colorado are threatening to do the same thing. But Righthaven, with a second | 18 JULY 2011 | High rolling can often get your head spinning. But it doesn’t always have to be a gamble – especially when you’re playing with Konami Gaming. More than just a manufacturer of gaming hardware and software, the company that is “Born from fun,TM into an investment jackpot. Together with their legal team, Lewis and Roca, Konami is poised to stay on top of its game and the global gaming industry. LAS VEGAS RENO PHOENIX TUCSON ALBUQUERQUE SILICON VALLEY LRLAW.COM ” delivers huge payouts of innovation and turns risky business Re: Reinvent Gaming From: Slot Machines To: Gaming Management 17