Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. Doe
- Lorna Schofield
- 1:24-cv-00647
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Strike 3 Holdings v. Doe, Judge Schofield ordered Plaintiff to file a subpoena motion while keeping the initial conference scheduled.
Strike 3 Holdings, LLC must file the subpoena motion by February 21, 2024, and may need to request another conference postponement if it cannot identify John Doe by March 13, 2024. The unidentified defendant and the internet service provider are affected by the requested discovery, but the excerpt does not authorize the subpoena itself.
What happened
Strike 3 Holdings, LLC sued an unidentified internet subscriber, called John Doe, claiming that the subscriber used BitTorrent to infringe its copyrights. Strike 3 said it knew the person only by an Internet Protocol address and that the internet provider could identify the subscriber.
Strike 3 asked to seek early information from the provider, Astound Broadband/RCN, Inc., before the parties held their required discovery-planning conference. It also asked to postpone the initial scheduling conference until the defendant was identified and served.
On February 12, 2024, Judge Lorna G. Schofield ordered Strike 3 to file its motion for a third-party subpoena by February 21. Judge Schofield kept the initial conference scheduled and ordered Strike 3 to request another postponement by March 13 if it had not identified the defendant. The order did not decide whether the alleged infringement occurred.
The detailed version
- Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. Doe · No. 1:24-cv-00647
- Lorna Schofield
- Feb. 12, 2024
Background
Strike 3 Holdings, LLC brought a copyright-infringement case against an unidentified defendant designated as John Doe. Strike 3 stated that the defendant’s name and address were unknown, but that the defendant was associated with an Internet Protocol (IP) address. Strike 3 alleged that the IP address had been used to infringe its copyrighted works through the BitTorrent file-distribution network.
Strike 3 stated that its internet service provider, Astound Broadband/RCN, Inc., maintained records that could connect the IP address to a customer. It also stated that such records might be kept only for a short time.
Request
Strike 3 asked for permission to file a motion seeking leave to serve a third-party subpoena before the parties’ required Rule 26(f) discovery-planning conference. A third-party subpoena is a formal demand for information from someone who is not a party to the lawsuit. Strike 3 sought the information to learn John Doe’s identity. Strike 3 also asked to postpone the initial Rule 16 scheduling conference until the defendant was identified and served.
Order
The court ordered Strike 3 to file its motion for a third-party subpoena by February 21, 2024. The court kept the initial pretrial conference scheduled. If Strike 3 had not identified the defendant by March 13, 2024, the court ordered it to file a second request to postpone that conference.
The excerpt does not state that the court granted or denied the requested subpoena. Instead, it set a deadline for Strike 3 to file the motion. The order addressed early discovery and scheduling; it did not decide the merits of the copyright-infringement allegations. Judge Lorna G. Schofield signed the order on February 12, 2024.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.