Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. Doe

Background

Strike 3 Holdings, LLC sued a John Doe defendant for alleged copyright infringement. According to Strike 3’s filing, the defendant’s internet protocol address had been used to infringe Strike 3’s copyrighted works through the BitTorrent file-distribution network. Strike 3 said it did not know the defendant’s name or address.

Strike 3 identified Optimum Online as the internet service provider that could connect the internet protocol address to a customer. It said the provider maintained logs containing the dates, times, and customer identities associated with internet protocol addresses, but that these logs generally were kept only for a short period.

Requested discovery

Strike 3 asked for permission to file a motion under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(d)(1) seeking leave to serve a third-party subpoena on Optimum Online before the parties held the required Rule 26(f) discovery conference. Strike 3 said the requested discovery would be limited to learning the Doe defendant’s identity. It also requested an adjournment of any scheduled initial scheduling conference, and asked that no such conference be scheduled until the defendant was identified and served.

The filing asserted that courts commonly consider whether a plaintiff has made an initial showing of copyright infringement, whether the discovery request is specific, whether other ways to obtain the information exist, whether the information is central to the case, and whether the defendant has a minimal expectation of privacy. Strike 3 said it would address those factors in its proposed motion.

Ruling

The court waived the pre-motion conference and granted Strike 3 leave to file a motion for leave to serve a third-party subpoena. The Clerk of Court was directed to terminate the motion at docket entry 6. The text provided does not state a separate ruling on Strike 3’s request to adjourn or avoid an initial scheduling conference. Judge Nelson S. Roman signed the order.