Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. John Doe, subscriber assigned IP address 73.196.45.127

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey granted Strike 3 Holdings, LLC’s motion for leave to serve Comcast Cable with a third-party subpoena before the Rule 26(f) conference. The subpoena is limited to obtaining the name and address associated with the specified IP address in an alleged BitTorrent copyright-infringement action, and the court expressly stated that the IP address holder’s responsibility for the infringement was not established.

Holdings

1. Good cause exists to permit limited expedited discovery before the Rule 26(f) conference when the need for discovery, considered in light of the administration of justice and the totality of the circumstances, outweighs prejudice to the responding party.
2. Plaintiff may serve Comcast Cable with a Rule 45 subpoena solely to obtain the name and address of the subscriber assigned to IP address 73.196.45.127; no other information may be sought.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Plaintiff showed good cause under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(d)(1) for expedited discovery before the Rule 26(f) conference.
2. Whether Plaintiff should be permitted to serve Comcast Cable with a narrowly tailored Rule 45 subpoena seeking only the name and address of the subscriber assigned to the specified IP address.

Disposition

other