Righthaven's domain name went up for auction on Monday in order to satisfy court judgments against the copyright trolling firm. The auction for righthaven.com is taking place at Snapnames and will remain open through 3:15pm EST on January 6, 2012. As of publication time, the auction has six bidders and the current bid is $1,250.

When Righthaven first hit the scene, it seemed as if the firm was waging a war against fair use on the Internet with thousands of lawsuits against suspected copyright "infringers," including one against Ars. Since then, however, the company has been suffering from seemingly endless legal setbacks and has essentially gone on life support thanks to its overzealous efforts on behalf of copyright holders.

As recently as last week, the Randazza Legal Group had to ask a US Marshal to drag Righthaven's officers into court in order to explain why they hadn't yet complied with a court order to turn over their assets in order to pay legal bills. The domain name auction appears to be part of that effort—when it ends on January 6, Righthaven will essentially no longer own its own name on the Internet. At this point, it certainly looks as if the end is near for Righthaven, even if other battles over copyright are still ongoing.