Strike 3 Holdings seems to have no shortage of potential defendants to their BitTorrent-based piracy lawsuits. On July 7th and 8th, Strike 3 Holdings filed 3 lawsuits with a total of 287 IP addresses identified from Atlantic Broadband, AT&T U-verse, Optimum Online, Spectrum, RCN, Comcast, and Webpass. Each IP address could become a defendant in a Federal copyright lawsuit if Strike 3 Holdings decides to pursue the case in court. They own the rights to the Vixen, Tushy, and Blacked brands of adult films and are prolific filers of copyright infringement lawsuits.
These subpoenas are serious and the first step in initiating a Federal lawsuit. Typically Strike 3 Holdings has investigators that monitor an IP address for months or even years, documenting every BitTorrent download. They typically wait until enough infringements have accrued from an IP address to be worth significant damages. In the 3 most recent lawsuits, the number of alleged infringements ranged from 25 to 383. The Plaintiff sees each infringement as worth $750 in statutory damages, which they may ask the court to treble to $2,250 for “willful” infringement. These are very expensive cases to lose in court.
Normally, Strike 3 would have to file a Federal lawsuit against each individual IP address, however, they have shifted strategy and are now using an obscure type of complaint in Florida’s Miami-Dade county court called a Bill of Pure Discovery. Many defendants are tempted to file Motions to Quash in order to protect their identities from being released, arguing that the Miami-Dade court is not the proper venue for copyright actions nor for defendants outside of Florida. For example, these 3 most recent lawsuits contain IP addresses geolocated to California, Michigan, Illinois, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Virginia, in addition to Florida. However, Strike 3 doesn’t seem to stop going after defendants that ask for a Motion to Quash and simply refile the lawsuit in Federal court and become more aggressive.
Sometimes, filing a Motion to Quash is still advantageous. I’ve defended hundreds of cases against Strike 3 Holdings across the country, both in negotiating settlements and litigating in court. If you’ve received a notice from Comcast Communications and you’re considering a Motion to Quash, settling, or fighting in court, please call us at 888.801.8681 or email. Please have your case number and IP address ready. We’re happy to explain your options for defense and recommend the best way forward.
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