Johnson v. UMG Recording, Inc.
- John Cronan
- 1:23-cv-03021
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Johnson v. UMG Recording, Judge Cronan ordered service on some defendants and required address information for others.
Todd Lorenzo Johnson and the defendants in the copyright-infringement action, particularly the defendants for whom service addresses were provided or remained necessary.
What happened
In Johnson v. UMG Recording, Inc., Todd Lorenzo Johnson, who is representing himself, brought copyright-infringement claims. The court had already allowed him to proceed without paying filing fees upfront, but he had not provided usable service addresses for all defendants.
The court directed the Clerk to prepare summonses and service paperwork for UMG Recording, Inc., Spotify, Amazon Music, and Believe Digital and TuneCore, so the U.S. Marshals Service could serve them through the New York Secretary of State. Johnson must provide one address for each of eight other defendants by June 14, 2023, or the court said it would dismiss the action as to those defendants without prejudice unless he showed good cause.
Judge John P. Cronan also ordered an information package mailed to Johnson and said he must notify the court of any address change. The court denied permission to proceed without upfront fees for an appeal, certifying that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Johnson v. UMG Recording, Inc. · No. 1:23-cv-03021
- John Cronan
- June 2, 2023
Background
Todd Lorenzo Johnson, proceeding without a lawyer, asserted copyright-infringement claims against the defendants. The court had previously allowed him to proceed without prepaying court fees. Because Johnson had not provided service addresses for all defendants, the court previously directed him to provide them. Johnson partially complied by supplying addresses for several defendants.
Service of Process
Because Johnson was authorized to proceed without prepaying fees, the court said he could rely on the court and the U.S. Marshals Service to serve the defendants. The Clerk of Court was instructed to issue summonses, complete the required U.S. Marshals Service forms, and deliver the necessary paperwork to the Marshals Service for service on UMG Recording, Inc.; Spotify; Amazon Music; and Believe Digital and TuneCore. The order identifies the corresponding corporate names as UMG Recordings, Inc., Spotify USA, Inc., Amazon Music Group LLC, and Believe Digital Media LLC, and directs service through the New York Secretary of State at the addresses listed in the order.
For Translation Enterprise, UMG Recording Company, Arista Records LLC, iTunes, Deezer, Google Play, YouTube, and Tidel Pinata NFT, Johnson had either failed to provide addresses or had provided multiple inconsistent addresses or entity names. The court ordered him to provide one address for each of those defendants by June 14, 2023. If he failed to do so and could not show good cause for the failure, the court said it would dismiss the action as to those defendants without prejudice.
Other Orders and Disposition
The court ordered Johnson to notify it in writing if his address changed and stated that the action could be dismissed if he failed to do so. It also directed the Clerk to mail Johnson an information package. Judge John P. Cronan certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for purposes of an appeal. The order addressed service and related procedural matters; it did not decide the copyright-infringement claims.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.