Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. Doe

Background

Strike 3 Holdings, LLC brought a copyright-infringement action against Doe. The letter says Strike 3 owns three subscription-based adult websites and the copyrights to the movies distributed through them. It alleged that the Internet Protocol address assigned to Doe had been used to infringe its copyrighted works through the BitTorrent file-distribution network.

Strike 3 said it did not know Doe’s name or address. It asserted that Spectrum, the internet service provider, maintained records connecting the relevant Internet Protocol address with a customer’s identity and that such records might be retained only briefly.

Requested Relief

Before the parties’ required discovery conference, Strike 3 sought permission under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(d)(1) to file a motion for leave to serve a third-party subpoena on Spectrum. The requested discovery was intended to identify Doe. Strike 3 also requested an adjournment of any initial scheduling conference until Doe could be named and served.

The letter described factors that courts in internet copyright cases sometimes consider when deciding whether there is good cause for early identity discovery, including an initial showing of copyright infringement, a specific discovery request, the lack of another way to obtain the information, the importance of the information, and the defendant’s expectation of privacy.

Ruling

The court granted Strike 3’s request to file the proposed motion seeking leave to serve the third-party subpoena. The order did not itself grant leave to serve the subpoena, resolve the copyright-infringement allegations, or separately state a ruling on the requested scheduling adjournment. Judge Victor Marrero entered the order on June 21, 2024.