1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 STRIKE 3 HOLDINGS, LLC, No. 2:24-cv-03749-TLN-CKD 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER DENYING MOTION TO QUASH 14 JOHN DOE subscriber assigned IP address 172.124.239.57 15 Defendant. 16 17 On February 27, 2025, defendant John Doe filed a motion to quash a subpoena issued by 18 plaintiff Strike 3 Holdings, LLC, to defendant’s internet service provider (“ISP”), AT&T Inc., 19 seeking his1 subscriber information. Upon review of defendant’s motion to quash and plaintiff’s 20 response, the court finds this motion can be resolved without oral argument. The court denies 21 defendant’s motion to quash the subpoena. Plaintiff is ordered to serve a copy of this order on the 22 ISP. 23 I. RELEVANT BACKGROUND 24 This case is one of many filed by Plaintiff Strike 3 Holdings, LLC, alleging copyright 25 infringement of adult-content movies distributed through its websites. ECF No. 1, ¶¶ 1-3. Plaintiff 26 alleges defendant has, over a period of time, used the BitTorrent protocol to download and 27 1 Defendant’s gender is not known. Pronouns refer to the “John Doe” party designation by 28 plaintiff. 1 distribute 31 of plaintiff’s movies to others in violation of plaintiff’s copyrights. ECF No. 1, ¶ 4. 2 Defendant is known to plaintiff only by his IP address, which is maintained by AT&T. ECF No. 3 1, ¶ 5. 4 In order to acquire the true name and address of defendant, plaintiff brought an ex parte 5 application to serve a third-party subpoena on defendant’s ISP. ECF No. 3. The undersigned 6 determined that good cause existed for the application and granted the application on February 7, 7 2025. ECF No. 4. On or about February 7, 2025, plaintiff served the subpoena on the ISP, which 8 has not yet responded. See ECF No. 4. Apparently the ISP provided notice of the subpoena to 9 defendant John Doe, because on February 27, 2025, defendant moved to quash the subpoena. 10 ECF No. 5. Plaintiff filed a response in opposition. ECF No. 6. 11 II. LEGAL STANDARD 12 “Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 45, any party may serve a subpoena that 13 commands a non-party ‘to produce documents, electronically stored information, or tangible 14 things….’” Soto v. Castlerock Farming & Transp., Inc.,

(E.D. Cal. 15 2012) (citing Fed. R. Civ. P. 45(a)(1)(C)). 16 When a party timely files a motion to quash, a district court must “quash or modify a 17 subpoena that: (i) fails to allow a reasonable time to comply; (ii) requires a person to comply 18 beyond the geographical limits specified in Rule 45(c); (iii) requires disclosure of privileged or 19 other protected matter, if no exception or waiver applies; or (iv) subjects a person to undue 20 burden.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 45(d)(3)(A). Additionally, a district court “may… quash or modify the 21 subpoena if it requires: (i) disclosing a trade secret or other confidential research, development, or 22 commercial information; or (ii) disclosing an unretained expert’s opinion or information that does 23 not describe specific occurrences in dispute and results from the expert’s study that was not 24 requested by a party.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 45(d)(3)(B). 25 The party issuing the subpoena must demonstrate that the discovery is relevant, while the 26 party seeking to quash the subpoena has the burden of persuasion. Soto,

. 27 III. DISCUSSION 28 Defendant moves to quash the subpoena on the basis that during the alleged time, 1 defendant was working at home using a VPN, which defendant argues means the IP address 2 recorded may not accurately reflect defendant’s actual internet activity or location. ECF No. 5 at 3 2. Defendant asks the court to quash the subpoena, asserting that an IP address alone is 4 insufficient proof of infringement.

5 In sum, defendant claims innocence. While this defense may prove to be true, courts in 6 this and other circuits have consistently rejected the argument that a defendant’s status as a 7 registered subscriber of an IP address associated with infringing activity is insufficient to support 8 discovery of the subscriber’s identity where others could have used the IP address. E.g., Strike 3 9 Holdings, LLC v. Doe, No. 19cv2425-JAH (LL),

, at *9 (S.D. Cal. 10 May 3, 2020) (“although an IP address and a subscriber’s name alone may be insufficient to state 11 a claim of infringement, …subpoenas may [ ] be used to determine a subscriber’s name”); Strike 12 3 Holdings, LLC v. Doe, No. 4:18-cv-04993-KAW,

, at *6 (N.D. 13 Cal. Feb. 6 2019); Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. Doe, No. 2:18-cv-02637 MCE CKD,

Dist. LEXIS 30674, at ** 9 & 11 (E.D. Cal. Feb. 26, 2019) (citing collected cases). 15 At this point in the litigation, plaintiff has made an adequate showing of the need to 16 subpoena defendant’s ISP to determine whether it can obtain the identity of the proper defendant. 17 Defendant cites no authority for preventing the discovery. To the extent defendant alleges factual 18 innocence, such a consideration is premature and may be raised in a motion to dismiss. The 19 subscriber’s identity will remain protected, both in and out of court, until the court orders 20 otherwise. See ECF No. 4. 21 IV. REQUEST FOR EXTENSION OF TIME 22 On March 27, 2025, plaintiff filed a motion for an extension of time to serve defendant. 23 ECF No. 8. Plaintiff was required to serve defendant by March 27, 2025, but was unable to do so 24 because of the pending motion to quash. Id. at 2-3. Plaintiff has shown good cause to extend the 25 time to serve defendant. Therefore, plaintiff’s request for an extension of time is GRANTED. 26 Plaintiff shall have up to and including May 26, 2025 to effectuate service of a summons and 27 complaint on defendant. 28 For the foregoing reasons, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that: ] 1. Defendant’s motion to quash the subpoena (ECF No. 5) is DENIED; 2 2. Plaintiff's motion for an extension of time (ECF No. 8) is GRANTED; and 3 3. Plaintiff shall have up to and including May 26, 2025 to serve defendant. 4 | Dated: April 1, 2025 Card ke yy a 5 CAROLYN K DELANEY? 6 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 7 || 5, sti.3749.24 8 9 10 1] 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28