Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. John Doe subscriber assigned IP address 75.4.202.18
- Laurel Beeler
- 3:21-cv-00302
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 8
In Strike 3 Holdings v. John Doe, Judge Beeler granted early discovery, allowing a subpoena to identify the anonymous subscriber accused of copyright infringement.
Strike 3 Holdings may subpoena AT&T U-verse for identifying information about the Doe subscriber, who may challenge the subpoena within the stated deadlines and may seek to proceed anonymously.
What happened
Strike 3 Holdings, LLC sued an unidentified internet subscriber, alleging that the person using IP address 75.4.202.18 downloaded and distributed 58 copyrighted adult movies through BitTorrent. Strike 3 said it could not identify the person from the IP address alone and asked to subpoena the subscriber’s internet provider, AT&T U-verse.
The court found that Strike 3 showed good cause for obtaining information before the normal discovery period. It found that Strike 3 had identified a potentially suable person, described its efforts to locate that person, adequately alleged copyright infringement, and showed that AT&T U-verse was likely to have identifying information. The court also issued limited confidentiality protections because the allegations involved sensitive personal matters and the subscriber might not be the actual infringer.
Judge Beeler granted Strike 3’s request for expedited discovery. Strike 3 may serve AT&T U-verse with a subpoena for the Doe defendant’s true name and addresses. The provider must notify the Doe defendant, who has 30 days after receiving notice to challenge the subpoena; if there is no timely challenge, the provider has 10 days to produce the requested information.
The detailed version
- Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. John Doe subscriber assigned IP address 75.4.202.18 · No. 3:21-cv-00302
- Laurel Beeler
- Feb. 5, 2021
Background
Strike 3 Holdings, LLC alleged that the unidentified defendant using AT&T U-verse IP address 75.4.202.18 infringed its copyrights in adult motion pictures distributed through its Blacked, Tushy, Vixen, and Blacked Raw brands. Strike 3 said the defendant used BitTorrent to download and distribute its movies without permission. Strike 3’s detection system made direct connections with the IP address, downloaded files from it, and used the files’ identifying data to confirm the alleged downloads. Strike 3 alleged that the IP address had been recorded infringing 58 movies over an extended period.
Strike 3 filed one copyright-infringement claim and then sought permission to serve AT&T U-verse, a nonparty internet-service provider, with an early subpoena. The proposed subpoena was limited to the name and address of the individual or individuals associated with the IP address.
Good Cause for Early Discovery
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(d) allows a court to permit discovery before the parties’ usual early case-management conference. Applying the four-factor test described in Columbia Insurance Co. v. seescandy.com, the court found that Strike 3 had shown good cause.
First, the court found that the allegations identified a real person who could potentially be sued in federal court. Second, Strike 3 described its efforts to locate and identify the person, including tracing downloads from the IP address to a physical address in the Northern District of California. Third, the court found that Strike 3 had sufficiently alleged a basic copyright-infringement claim: ownership of the copyrighted works and violation of an exclusive copyright right. Fourth, the court found that AT&T U-verse was reasonably likely to have information that would identify the Doe defendant and allow service of process.
The court’s ruling allowed discovery to identify the defendant; it did not decide whether the subscriber actually infringed Strike 3’s copyrights.
Limited Protective Order
The court issued a limited protective order because the internet subscriber might not be the person who committed the alleged infringement and because the allegations involved sensitive and personal matters. Information about the Doe defendant released by the internet provider must remain confidential and may not be publicly disclosed until the Doe defendant has an opportunity to ask to proceed anonymously and the court rules on that request.
The Doe defendant has 30 days after the information is disclosed to Strike 3’s counsel to seek permission to proceed anonymously. If the defendant does not file that request within 30 days, the limited protective order will end. The court also stated that papers containing identifying information may be filed under seal while it considers a request to proceed anonymously.
Disposition
The court granted Strike 3 Holdings’s ex parte motion for expedited discovery concerning the subscriber assigned IP address 75.4.202.18. Strike 3 may immediately serve a Rule 45 subpoena on AT&T U-verse seeking the Doe defendant’s true name and addresses, and it must attach the order to the subpoena.
AT&T U-verse must serve the Doe defendant with the subpoena and order within 30 days after service on the provider. The Doe defendant then has 30 days after service to file a motion contesting the subpoena, including a motion to quash or modify it. If no timely challenge is filed, AT&T U-verse has 10 days to provide the responsive information to Strike 3. The subpoenaed entity must preserve the information while any timely motion to quash is pending. Information produced under the subpoena may be used only to protect Strike 3’s rights described in its complaint.
Read the full 8-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.