Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. John Doe subscriber assigned IP address 24.4.211.84
- Edward Chen
- 3:23-cv-06066
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 3
Strike 3 Holdings v. John Doe: Judge Chen granted early subpoenas to identify the subscriber linked to the alleged copyright activity.
Strike 3 Holdings, LLC may subpoena Comcast Cable and potentially other internet service providers for John Doe’s name and address. John Doe may receive notice, seek dismissal, and seek protection for his identity. The subpoenaed providers must preserve the requested information as ordered.
What happened
In Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. John Doe subscriber assigned IP address 24.4.211.84, Strike 3 alleged that John Doe used BitTorrent to infringe 30 of its adult movies.
The court allowed Strike 3 to seek the subscriber’s name and address from Comcast Cable before the parties’ initial discovery meeting. It also allowed subpoenas to other internet providers identified through that process, subject to notice, privacy, and information-use requirements.
Judge Edward M. Chen granted Strike 3’s request but did not decide whether John Doe infringed copyright or prevent John Doe from asking the court to dismiss the case.
The detailed version
- Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. John Doe subscriber assigned IP address 24.4.211.84 · No. 3:23-cv-06066
- Edward Chen
- Dec. 11, 2023
Background
Strike 3 Holdings, LLC sued John Doe for copyright infringement. Strike 3 alleged that John Doe used the BitTorrent protocol to infringe 30 of Strike 3’s adult motion pictures. Because the defendant was identified in the caption only by an Internet Protocol (IP) address, Strike 3 sought permission to conduct early discovery—information gathering before the parties’ required initial conference—to learn John Doe’s true name and address.
Court’s ruling
The court found that Strike 3 had shown good cause for the requested discovery and granted its application. Strike 3 may serve Comcast Cable with a subpoena under Rule 45 requiring it to provide the name and address of the subscriber assigned the IP address identified in the complaint. Strike 3 may also issue similar subpoenas to other internet service providers identified through the responses.
The order requires notice to John Doe in the circumstances described by the order, limits Strike 3’s use and public disclosure of the information, and requires references to John Doe’s identity to be redacted and filed under seal until further notice. The subpoenaed providers must preserve the information while any timely motion to dismiss is pending.
Judge Edward M. Chen stated that authorizing the discovery did not prevent John Doe from filing a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), a rule allowing dismissal for failure to state a legally sufficient claim, and did not prejudge that motion. The court also reminded Strike 3 of its obligation under Rule 11 to assess whether to continue the lawsuit after learning the subscriber’s identity. The order decided only the discovery request, not whether copyright infringement occurred.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.