Righthaven has gone after more than 250 publishers for allegedly violating newspaper copyrights, and it has extracted settlements from many of them. But one defendant is fighting back in Colorado, launching a class-action counterclaim against Righthaven.

"Class Plaintiffs are victims of extortion litigation by Righthaven,” says the counterclaim, “which has made such extortion litigation a part of its, if not its entire, business model.”

The defendant in question here is BuzzFeed, a New York-based online publisher who is accused of violating a Denver Post copyright in a photograph of a Denver airport TSA security patdown. (Righthaven sued an Ars writer over our use of the same photograph in a story about another of these lawsuits, only to dismiss the case days later.) BuzzFeed is one of more than 50 publishers and individuals being sued in Colorado federal court by Righthaven, which claims to have licensed the photograph in question from the Post.

BuzzFeed insists that its display of the photograph is a fair use, though some of its arguments sound a bit odd. (“BuzzFeed, Inc. does not received any financial benefit above and beyond Web advertising.” Isn't this the definition of a financial benefit?) But it quickly moves from a defense of its own conduct to an attack on the conduct of Righthaven, and it asks the judge to put every Colorado defendant into a class which can pursue Righthaven for extortion-style behavior.

Righthaven's alleged sins are many, but the main charges can be summed up in three points:

Abuse of process . Righthaven doesn't file DMCA takedowns, it doesn't notify sites of infringement, and it doesn't attempt to negotiate a license. It sues first and then follows up quickly with settlement letters. According to BuzzFeed, this is because the company “had an ulterior purpose” in bringing the suits, “namely not to pursue its exclusive rights in the Work, but to negotiate in bad faith a settlement with the Defendants quickly after filing the action."

. Righthaven doesn't file DMCA takedowns, it doesn't notify sites of infringement, and it doesn't attempt to negotiate a license. It sues first and then follows up quickly with settlement letters. According to BuzzFeed, this is because the company “had an ulterior purpose” in bringing the suits, “namely not to pursue its exclusive rights in the Work, but to negotiate in bad faith a settlement with the Defendants quickly after filing the action." Trying to seize domain names . Righthaven infamously requests that the entire offending domain name be transferred to it, a strategy that has already irritated some judges. According to BuzzFeed, “the request is “asserted solely for the purposes of harassment and information [sic]. Righthaven admitted in another action more than three months before filing the present action that such relief is not authorized under the Copyright Act, but still brought this unwarranted claim for relief.” Righthaven even asked for the hugely popular Drudge Report domain in a case against the site.

. Righthaven infamously requests that the entire offending domain name be transferred to it, a strategy that has already irritated some judges. According to BuzzFeed, “the request is “asserted solely for the purposes of harassment and information [sic]. Righthaven admitted in another action more than three months before filing the present action that such relief is not authorized under the Copyright Act, but still brought this unwarranted claim for relief.” Righthaven even asked for the hugely popular Drudge Report domain in a case against the site. It doesn't control the copyrights. When Righthaven's initial operating agreement with its first client was revealed in court, defense lawyers in multiple cases quickly claimed that the whole operation was a sham. The agreement showed that Righthaven was granted only the right to sue but was not given any of the “exclusive rights” granted by the Copyright Act. This led some lawyers to argue that Righthaven actually had no standing at all to sue in such cases, and that the entire operation was a shell game assigned to keep the newspapers from bringing their own litigation. BuzzFeed repeats these claims, saying that it is the Post which controls the copyright at issue in this case.

In the end, the suit claims that all of Righthaven's conduct was “motivated solely to intimidate Defendants and extract settlement money,” and it noted that vigorous attempts to defend Righthaven cases often lead to voluntary dismissals from the company. “Righthaven voluntarily dismisses the copyright litigations it has initiated if it foresees that it will need to engage in substantive litigation with the alleged infringer,” says the counterclaim.

We know you don't like us, judge

This is nothing less than a legal assault on the foundations of Righthaven's business. Will it succeed? The judge overseeing the many Righthaven cases in Colorado, John Kane, plainly doesn't like the company or its tactics. In a separate Righthaven lawsuit, he issued an order last month in which he laid into Righthaven.

Neither The Denver Post nor Righthaven attempted to mitigate any damages by simply sending a cease and desist letter, nor any other request to discontinue the alleged infringement, prior to initiating this action. Instead, Righthaven has brought this lawsuit (and apparently 251 others) against alleged infringers, further exacerbating the Court’s overloaded docket. Righthaven’s motivation for avoiding the simple act of requesting that Mr. Hill cease and desist is simple, it is using these lawsuits as a source of revenue. Such abuse of legal process should be rejected.

And, in a recent declaration in that case—where Righthaven is currently trying to avoid paying attorney's fees after dismissing yet another case—Righthaven even admitted, "Righthaven is certainly aware of the disdain this Court apparently has for its perceived business model." It then went on to claim that it was suffering from a lack of "due process."

Still, even if the judge does verily smite Righthaven from on high, one has only to look down the Righthaven case list in Colorado to see just how many suits have already settled.