Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. Doe

Background

Strike 3 Holdings, LLC brought a copyright-infringement action against a John Doe defendant whose name and address were unknown. The plaintiff alleged that the defendant used the BitTorrent file-distribution network to infringe its copyrighted works. The plaintiff stated that Verizon Fios, the internet service provider associated with the relevant internet protocol address, maintained records that could identify the subscriber assigned that address.

Request

Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(d)(1), the plaintiff sought permission to file a motion for early discovery before the parties’ required Rule 26(f) conference. Specifically, it wanted to seek a third-party subpoena to Verizon Fios to learn the defendant’s identity. The plaintiff also requested that any initial scheduling conference under Rule 16 be postponed, or not scheduled, until the defendant was identified and served.

The plaintiff argued that it would show good cause for the requested discovery, including a preliminary showing of copyright infringement, a specific request, the lack of another way to obtain the information, the importance of the information, and the defendant’s limited expectation of privacy. These were the plaintiff’s stated arguments in support of filing its proposed discovery motion.

Ruling

The court’s text states: “Plaintiff’s request is GRANTED.” Judge Andrew L. Carter, Jr. therefore granted the request described in the letter. The provided text does not specify whether the court separately authorized the subpoena itself, rather than granting permission to file a motion seeking that authorization. It also does not state a ruling on the underlying copyright-infringement allegations.