Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. Doe

Background

Strike 3 Holdings, LLC brought a copyright-infringement case against a defendant identified as John Doe because the defendant’s name and address were not yet known. Strike 3 alleged that the internet protocol address associated with the defendant had been used to infringe its copyrighted works through the BitTorrent file-distribution network.

Strike 3 told the court that the relevant internet service provider, Optimum Online, could use its records to identify the subscriber assigned to the internet protocol address. It also stated that providers generally keep those records for only a short time.

Request

Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(d)(1), discovery generally cannot begin before the parties hold a discovery-planning conference unless the court orders otherwise. Strike 3 asked for permission to file a motion seeking a third-party subpoena to Optimum Online before that conference. It also asked the court to postpone any initial scheduling conference until Doe was identified and served.

Strike 3 represented that its future motion would show good cause for early discovery, including a preliminary showing of copyright infringement, a specific information request, the lack of another way to obtain the information, the importance of the information, and Doe’s limited expectation of privacy. These were Strike 3’s stated positions; the opinion does not independently decide those points.

Ruling

The document states “Granted.” The court granted Strike 3’s request to file a motion seeking permission for the early subpoena and to adjourn any scheduled initial scheduling conference until the defendant was named and served. The ruling did not itself grant the subpoena, identify Doe, or decide whether copyright infringement occurred.