Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. John Doe subscriber assigned IP address 174.62.70.205

United States District Court for the Northern District of California

Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. John Doe subscriber assigned IP address 174.62.70.205

Trial Court Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 STRIKE 3 HOLDINGS, LLC, Case No. 21-cv-06216-LHK (SVK)

8 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING EX PARTE 9 v. MOTION FOR LEAVE TO SERVE A THIRD PARTY SUBPOENA PRIOR TO 10 JOHN DOE SUBSCRIBER ASSIGNED IP THE RULE 26(F) CONFERENCE ADDRESS 174.62.70.205, 11 Re: Dkt. No. 8 Defendant. 12 13 Before the Court is Plaintiff Strike 3 Holdings, LLC’s motion for leave to serve a third 14 party subpoena on Comcast Cable (“Comcast”), the Internet Service Provider (“ISP”) for 15 Defendant John Doe, in an effort to identify Defendant prior to the conference required under 16 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(f). Pursuant to Civil Local Rule 7-1(b), the Court finds this 17 matter suitable without a hearing, and ORDERS as follows: 18 Plaintiff’s ex parte motion for leave to serve a third party subpoena on Comcast before the 19 Rule 26(f) conference is GRANTED on the following conditions: 20 • The subpoena shall only request the actual name and address of the subscriber to whom 21 Comcast assigned the above-captioned IP address during the time frame from 14 DAYS 22 BEFORE the date of the first alleged infringing act to 14 DAYS AFTER the date of the 23 last alleged infringing act as set forth in Exhibit A to the complaint. 24 • Plaintiff shall attach a copy of this order to the subpoena. 25 • Plaintiff may not use any information disclosed by Comcast for any purpose other than 26 protecting its rights as set forth in the complaint. 27 • Comcast shall, in turn, serve a copy of the subpoena and a copy of this order on the 1 • The return date on the subpoena shall be no less than 45 DAYS from the date of service on 2 Comcast. Comcast shall not disclose any identifying information about defendant to 3 Plaintiff prior to the return date or prior to the resolution of any motions to quash or 4 modify the subpoena. 5 • Defendant John Doe will have 30 DAYS from the date of service upon him or her to file 6 any motions contesting the subpoena (including a motion to quash or modify the subpoena) 7 with the Court for the district where compliance with the subpoena is required. 8 • Comcast shall preserve any subpoenaed information pending the resolution of any timely- 9 filed motion to quash or modify the subpoena. 10 • If Comcast produces information regarding the Doe Defendant to Plaintiff, Plaintiff shall 11 not publicly disclose that information until Defendant has an opportunity to file a motion 12 with this Court to be allowed to proceed in this litigation anonymously and that motion is 13 ruled on by the Court. If Defendant fails to file a motion for leave to proceed 14 anonymously within 30 DAYS after his or her information is disclosed to Plaintiff, this 15 limited protective order will expire. If Defendant includes identifying information in his or 16 her request to proceed anonymously, the Court finds good cause to order the papers filed 17 under seal until the Court has an opportunity to rule on the request. See Digital Sin, Inc. v. 18 Does 1-5698, No. C 11-04397 LB,

2011 WL 5362068

, at *4 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 4, 2011). In 19 the event Defendant’s request is placed under seal, the court will direct Defendant to 20 submit a copy of the under-seal request to Plaintiff and will ensure that Plaintiff has time to 21 respond. 22 //// 23 //// 24 //// 25 //// 26 //// 27 //// 1 e In its proposed order, Plaintiff also sought leave to serve subpoenas on “any service 2 provider that is identified in response to a subpoena as a provider of Internet services to 3 one of the Defendants.” Plaintiff must seek leave to serve subpoenas on any other service 4 provider besides Comcast in this matter. 5 SO ORDERED. 6 || Dated: September 13, 2021 7 Stason ve SUSAN VAN KEULEN 9 United States Magistrate Judge 10 11 a 12

15 16

it

Z 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

Reference

Status
Unknown