Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. JOHN DOE subscriber assigned IP address 108.5.244.235

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey grants Strike 3 Holdings, LLC leave to serve Verizon Fios with an expedited Rule 45 subpoena to identify the subscriber assigned IP address 108.5.244.235. The subpoena is limited to the subscriber’s name and address, and the court prohibits requests for telephone numbers, email addresses, or MAC addresses and imposes limits on use of the information.

Holdings

1. Good cause supported allowing Plaintiff to serve a Rule 45 subpoena on Verizon Fios before the Rule 26(f) conference because the requested information was necessary to identify the proper defendant and permit service, and the request was appropriately limited.
2. Plaintiff may subpoena Verizon Fios only for the name and address of the subscriber assigned IP address 108.5.244.235; it may not seek the subscriber's telephone number, email address, or MAC address.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the court should permit expedited discovery before the Rule 26(f) conference to identify an unknown copyright defendant.
2. Whether the subpoena should be limited to the subscriber's name and address to balance Plaintiff's need for identification against the privacy interests of a potentially uninvolved account holder.

Disposition

other