Five more lawsuits filed by copyright trolls Righthaven LLC have been dismissed. Senior U.S. District Judge John L. Kane threw out the suits taken out against Jason Chrystal and Justus Steel; OSM Media LLC, Nina Yablock and Bryan Preston; Freedom Force Communications, the Say Anything blog, Scott Hennen and Rob Port; Q Communications Inc. and Don Tuthill; and BuzzFeed Inc., Jonah Peretti and Gavon Laessig. None of those seeing dismissals are linked to the gambling industry but it just goes to show there’s even less time left for these trolls to continue. Next time you see a guy like Steve Jacobs with a cup on the street corner it wont be because he’s finished his coffee – lets put it that way.
One university at the centre of controversial point shaving allegations retained the services of a former attorney general long after the case concluded. The University of Hawaii (UH) were embroiled in the case relating to the unsubstantiated allegations back in November and hired Mark Bennett, with law firm Starn O’Toole Marcus and Fisher. According to Hawaii Reporter writer Jim Dooley, Bennett’s job was to carry out unspecified legal duties and the contract had a maximum value of $50,000. UH associate vice president Lynne Waters admitted they billed just $3,259 and that he was retained “as a precautionary measure” as well as to “provide advice and counsel in matters relating to the allegations of point-shaving and NCAA compliance violations.” Bennett’s work was performed when the allegations were at their fiercest in November and December of last year and Waters admitted their contract with his firm “is in the process of being closed”.
There is still no news on the latest point shaving case to affect college basketball involving University of Auburn point guard Varez Ward. The FBI is investigating Ward over two games and the reporting of each offence through anonymous tip offs just goes to show how hard it is to monitor these activities. With a solid regulatory regime in place, like in Europe, specifically the UK, reporting any irregularities is much easier.
Over the other side of the pond, an Irish bingo hall operator is suing the five-oh after a “vindictive” police raid on their premises. Garda raided the Omega Leisure run Rock Bingo Club on four occasions in January despite a High Court case in December finding that it breaks no laws. Police carried out the raid after receiving information they were trading without a licence and the new case has been set a court date of March 29th.
