Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. Doe

Background

Strike 3 Holdings, LLC brought this copyright-infringement case against an unidentified defendant. The filing says Strike 3 owns three subscription-based adult websites and the copyrights to the movies distributed through those websites. Strike 3 alleged that the John Doe defendant used the BitTorrent file-distribution network to infringe its copyrighted works. Because the defendant was identified only by an internet protocol address, Strike 3 said it needed information from the internet service provider, Verizon Fios, to learn the defendant’s identity.

Request

Strike 3 asked for permission to file a motion under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(d)(1) seeking early third-party discovery. Specifically, it sought permission to serve Verizon Fios with a subpoena before the parties held the required Rule 26(f) conference. Strike 3 also asked the court to postpone any initial scheduling conference until the defendant was identified and served. Strike 3 argued that early discovery was justified because it had a preliminary copyright-infringement claim, had made a specific request for information, had no alternative way to identify the defendant, needed the information to proceed, and said the defendant had only a limited privacy interest in the information.

Ruling

Judge Nelson S. Roman stated that the court had already granted Strike 3’s motion for a third-party subpoena on April 11, 2024. The court therefore denied this motion as moot. The clerk was directed to terminate the motion at ECF No. 8. The provided text does not state that the court decided whether copyright infringement occurred.