Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. John Doe subscriber assigned IP address 24.23.216.102
- 3:23-cv-04942
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 3
In Strike 3 Holdings v. John Doe, the court authorized early subpoena discovery from Comcast, with notice and challenge procedures, without deciding the lawsuit’s merits.
Strike 3 Holdings may seek the defendant’s identifying information from Comcast Cable and potentially other internet-service providers. The unidentified subscriber and the providers may challenge the subpoenas, must receive notice under the order, and are subject to the order’s preservation and use restrictions.
What happened
In Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. John Doe Subscriber Assigned IP Address 24.23.216.102, the court found good cause for Strike 3 Holdings to seek information before the parties’ required discovery meeting. It allowed Strike 3 to subpoena Comcast Cable for the defendant’s true name and address connected to the listed internet address.
The order also allowed subpoenas to other internet providers identified through that process. The provider must notify the subscriber and send the subpoena and order within 30 days. The subscriber and provider then have 30 days to challenge the subpoena, including by asking the court to cancel or change it. The information must be preserved, used only for this lawsuit, and provisionally filed under seal.
The court, acting through a United States Magistrate Judge whose name is unclear in the supplied text, authorized the subpoenas and set these procedures; it did not decide whether Strike 3’s claims are valid.
The detailed version
- Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. John Doe subscriber assigned IP address 24.23.216.102 · No. 3:23-cv-04942
- Oct. 19, 2023
Background
Strike 3 Holdings, LLC asked for permission to serve a subpoena on Comcast Cable before the parties held the conference required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(f). The defendant is identified in the caption as John Doe Subscriber Assigned IP Address 24.23.216.102.
Court’s Analysis and Order
The court found that Strike 3 had shown “good cause” to serve a third-party subpoena before the Rule 26(f) conference. It authorized Strike 3 to serve Comcast with a subpoena under Rule 45 seeking the defendant’s true name and address associated with the internet protocol address identified in Exhibit A to the complaint. A copy of the order must accompany the subpoena.
The court also authorized Strike 3 to serve a similar Rule 45 subpoena on any other internet-service provider identified in response to a subpoena as providing internet services to the defendant.
If Comcast qualifies as a “cable operator” under 47 U.S.C. § 522(5), the order requires it to comply with 47 U.S.C. § 551(c)(2)(B), which permits disclosure of personal identifying information under a court order when the subscriber is notified. Comcast must send the subscriber a copy of the subpoena and this order within 30 days after service. Notice may be sent by a reasonable method, including first-class mail or overnight service to the subscriber’s last known address.
Each subscriber and the internet-service provider has 30 days after service to file a motion contesting the subpoena, including a motion to quash or modify it. If no subscriber files a timely challenge, the provider has 10 additional days to produce the responsive information. The provider must preserve the subpoenaed information until production or final resolution of a timely motion to quash.
The defendant’s name and other identifying information must be filed provisionally under seal. After the defendant is served, the court may require the defendant to seek permission to proceed anonymously.
Disposition and Effect
The court authorized Strike 3 Holdings to pursue the described third-party subpoenas and established notice, challenge, preservation, use, and filing restrictions. The order concerns discovery and does not resolve the merits of Strike 3’s claims against the defendant. The supplied text does not clearly identify the magistrate judge’s name in the signature block.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.