Copyright troll Righthaven has run into its biggest legal snag following its formation last year as a vehicle to sue blogs for copyright infringement.

A Colorado federal judge froze some 35 pending lawsuits Thursday, until he determines whether Las Vegas–based Righthaven has legal standing to sue over Denver Post articles.

“Because there are serious questions as to whether my exercise of subject-matter jurisdiction over Righthaven’s claim of copyright infringement is proper, I think it most prudent to stay the proceedings (.pdf) in all pending cases in this district in which Righthaven is the named plaintiff,” U.S. District Judge John Kane of Denver wrote.

The brouhaha, first reported by the Las Vegas Sun, concerns a licensing arrangement between the Denver Post and Righthaven. Lawyers defending some bloggers believe the arrangement does not properly grant Righthaven the right to sue. A similar issue is playing itself out in Las Vegas, where a handful of cases are being contested on legal standing, after a Nevada judge ordered the licensing arrangement between Righthaven and the Las Vegas Review-Journal disclosed.

In all the cases, Righthaven, which uses a loophole in copyright law to sue blogs, claims ownership of the copyright material. And the issue in both states has nothing to do with the merits of the infringement allegations, but whether Righthaven or the news outlets themselves should bring the cases.

Last month, a Nevada federal judge stayed a Righthaven lawsuit against the Democratic Underground blog for allegedly pilfering four paragraphs from a 34-paragraph Review-Journal story.

The disclosed internal agreement gives Stephens Media — the Review-Journal’s owner — and Righthaven each a 50 percent stake in any settlements or verdicts. It says Stephens Media shall retain “an exclusive license to exploit the Stephens Media assigned copyrights for any lawful purpose whatsoever and Righthaven shall have no right or license to exploit or participate in the receipt of royalties from the exploitation of the Stephens Media assigned copyrights other than the right to proceeds in association with a recovery.”

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is defending Democratic Underground, said the arrangement is a “sham.” The EFF claims nobody can sue and claim ownership of a work unless they have the rights to reproduce and redistribute the work.

In all, Righthaven has sued about 300 websites on copyright-infringement allegations. Most of the cases are in Denver and Nevada. Dozens have settled out of court.

Illustration: redtimmy/Flickr

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