Torrent Lawsuit Defense

New York

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Strike 3 Holdings Floods New York with 45 New Lawsuits in just 2 Days

Reddit user /u/beardfearer may fear beards, but not copyright noticesStrike 3 Holdings has flooded New York with 45 new copyright infringement lawsuits. New York is not the only state to be blanketed with suits, as Strike 3 Holdings has filed more than 150 cases in the past week. There seems to be no end to the lawsuits as unsuspecting internet subscribers find themselves caught up in what Judge Lamberth of Washington, DC described as a “high tech shakedown” where the Plaintiffs treat the court system “as an ATM.”

How is Strike 3 Holdings able to file more than 20 lawsuits a day for an entire week? The Plaintiff uses boiler plate lawsuits that allege unnamed defendants, called John Does, have committed copyright infringement by downloading Strike 3 Holdings’ films through BitTorrent networks. The only thing that differs between lawsuits is the IP address and list of alleged copyright infringements. Strike 3 Holdings films are marketed under the brands Vixen, Tushy, Blacked, and Blacked Raw.

Once the lawsuit is filed, Strike 3 Holdings asks to subpoena the internet service provider (ISP) in order to get the name of the account holder of the IP address. Internet subscribers usually first find out about the lawsuit when they receive a notice of the subpoena from their ISP stating they need to file a Motion to Quash in order to stop the release of their information.

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Malibu Media Files 9 More BitTorrent Lawsuits in New York

Reddit user /u/beardfearer may fear beards, but not copyright noticesMalibu Media continues their record breaking year of filing lawsuits, this time filing 9 more lawsuits in New York. This year alone, they have filed more than 1100 lawsuits across the country, including more than 170 in New York alone.

Every lawsuit is almost identical. Each defendant is an unnamed internet subscriber, known as a John Doe. Malibu Media alleges an investigative company has observed each IP address contributing to downloading and sharing X-Art branded adult films.

Once the lawsuit is filed, Malibu Media asks to subpoena the internet service provider (ISP) in order to get the name of the account holder of the IP address. Internet subscribers usually first find out about the lawsuit when they receive a notice of the subpoena from their ISP stating they need to file a Motion to Quash in order to stop the release of their information.

Although downloading through BitTorrent may feel commonplace, the lawsuits against alleged downloaders are serious and represent potentially thousands of dollars in damages per infringement. When multiple infringements are alleged, damages granted by the court can easily escalate into 10’s or 100’s of thousands of dollars. This makes an early and effective defense against these suits all the more important. For more information on what these lawsuits mean for internet subscribers, please check out our FAQ section.

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Malibu Media and Strike 3 Holdings Restart their Rapid Pace of Filing Across the Country

Reddit user /u/beardfearer may fear beards, but not copyright noticesMalibu Media and Strike 3 Holdings slowed their rate of filing new lawsuits in October but are picking up their pace again. In September, Malibu Media filed more than 160 new BitTorrent file sharing lawsuits, yet filed only 10 in October. Strike 3 Holdings followed a similar pattern, filing more than 340 cases in September and 38 in October.

Any hope that Malibu Media were slowing down long term seems to be fading as they have filed 34 cases in the first two weeks of November. Strike 3 Holdings has remained relatively quiet by only filing 4 new cases in November.

Both companies file similar lawsuits. They allege that they have hired investigators to monitor BitTorrent traffic and record IP addresses that contribute to the downloading and sharing of the Plaintiffs’ copyrighted films. They then sue the internet subscriber as a John Doe and subpoena the identity of the subscriber from the internet service provider (ISP). The subscribers usually first find out about the lawsuit when they receive a notice of the subpoena from their ISP stating they need to file a Motion to Quash in order to stop the release of their information.

Although downloading through BitTorrent may feel commonplace, the lawsuits against alleged downloaders are serious and represent thousands of dollars in damages per infringement. When multiple infringements are alleged, damages granted by the court can easily escalate into 10s or 100s of thousands of dollars. This makes an early and effective defense against these suits all the more important.

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69 More Lawsuits from Strike 3 Holdings and Malibu Media

Reddit user /u/beardfearer may fear beards, but not copyright noticesStrike 3 Holdings and Malibu Media are continuing to blanket the country in BitTorrent-based file sharing lawsuits, this time in California, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. Strike 3 Holdings has been particularly busy, filing 17 cases in California, 7 in Illinois, 16 in Maryland, and 5 in New York. Malibu Media has also filed 9 new cases in Michigan, 5 in New Jersey, and 10 in Pennsylvania.

Both companies file similar lawsuits. They allege that they have hired investigators to monitor BitTorrent traffic and record IP addresses that contribute to the downloading and sharing of the Plaintiffs’ copyrighted films. They then sue the internet subscriber as a John Doe and subpoena the identity of the subscriber from the internet service provider (ISP).

Although downloading through BitTorrent may feel commonplace, the lawsuits against alleged downloaders are serious and represent thousands of dollars in damages per infringement. When multiple infringements are alleged, damages granted by the court can easily escalate into 10s or 100s of thousands of dollars. This makes an early and effective defense against these suits all the more important.

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Strike 3 Holdings and Malibu Media Continue to File Record Breaking Number of Cases

Reddit user /u/beardfearer may fear beards, but not copyright noticesStrike 3 Holdings and Malibu Media continue to inundate Federal courts around the country with file-sharing lawsuits against individual, anonymous internet subscribers. In the past few days, Strike 3 Holdings has filed 62 copyright infringement lawsuits in California (29 cases), Colorado (9 cases), Illinois (6 cases), New York (6 cases), Pennsylvania (1 case), and Virginia (11 cases). Malibu Media has also filed 23 additional cases in Michigan (1 case), New Jersey (12 cases), and Texas (8 cases). This has been a record breaking year. So far, Strike 3 Holdings has filed more than 1700 lawsuits this year. Malibu Media is not far behind with more than 1000 cases.

Although different companies, both Strike 3 Holdings and Malibu Media have similar tactics in aggressively pursuing alleged downloaders of their adult films. Strike 3 Holdings owns the Blacked, Tushy, and Vixen brands. Malibu Media owns the X-Art brand. Both Plaintiffs begin by identifying an IP address they claim participated in downloading and sharing their films through Bittorrent networks and then sue the unnamed account holder as a John Doe. As they only have an IP address, they ask the courts to subpoena the defendant’s identity from the Internet Service Provider (ISP) so the defendant can be formally served.

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Strike 3 Holdings Files 68 More BitTorrent Lawsuits

Reddit user /u/beardfearer may fear beards, but not copyright noticesStrike 3 Holdings, LLC, has filed 68 more BitTorrent lawsuits against John Doe defendants. On September 24 and 25, Strike 3 Holdings filed 6 cases in the District of Columbia, 6 in Illinois, 4 in Nevada, 20 in New York, 27 in Pennsylvania, and 5 in Texas. It seems despite filing hundreds of lawsuits this year, the Plaintiff shows no sign of slowing.

Strike 3 Holdings owns the Vixen, Tushy, and Blacked brand of adult films and is notorious for mass filing lawsuits against anonymous internet subscribers, referred to as John Does, and identified only by their IP addresses. They allege the John Does downloaded and shared their copyrighted films using BitTorrent networks.

The Plaintiff argues that in order to properly serve the lawsuits on defendants, they must get their identity through the subscribers’ Internet Service Provider (ISP). Courts routinely grant subpoenas to allow the Plaintiff to demand the identity of an internet subscriber from the ISP.

Although these lawsuits are filed regularly, they are serious. It may be tempting for a defendant to hope that the Plaintiff forgets about their case but failure to fight the lawsuit can result in tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages depending on the number of alleged infringements. In civil court, not defending your case can be seen as the same as admitting fault.

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