Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. Doe

Background

Strike 3 Holdings, LLC filed a copyright-infringement action against a John Doe defendant whose name and address were unknown. According to Strike 3, the defendant’s internet address had been used to infringe Strike 3’s copyrighted works through the BitTorrent file-distribution network. Strike 3 stated that the internet service provider, Verizon Fios, maintained records that could connect the address to a customer’s identity.

Request

Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(d)(1), Strike 3 asked for permission to file a motion seeking early, limited discovery before the parties held the conference ordinarily required by Rule 26(f). Specifically, Strike 3 sought permission to request a third-party subpoena to Verizon Fios to learn the Doe defendant’s identity. Strike 3 also asked the court to postpone any initial scheduling conference until the defendant was identified and served.

Strike 3 argued that courts may allow this kind of early discovery for good cause when a plaintiff makes an initial showing of copyright infringement, identifies the requested information specifically, lacks another way to obtain it, needs the information centrally to proceed, and faces a defendant with only a limited expectation of privacy. The letter stated that Strike 3 would address those factors in its later motion.

Ruling

The court marked the request “Granted.” The ruling allowed Strike 3 to file a motion seeking permission to serve the proposed third-party subpoena and granted its request to postpone the initial scheduling conference until the defendant was named and served. The text does not state that the court itself authorized issuance of the subpoena or decided the copyright-infringement claim.