Dallas Buyers Club, LLC v. Cordova

81 F. Supp. 3d 1025, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21845, 2015 WL 782988
CourtDistrict Court, D. Colorado
DecidedFebruary 24, 2015
DocketCivil Action No. 14-cv-01469-WYD-MEH
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 81 F. Supp. 3d 1025 (Dallas Buyers Club, LLC v. Cordova) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dallas Buyers Club, LLC v. Cordova, 81 F. Supp. 3d 1025, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21845, 2015 WL 782988 (D. Colo. 2015).

Opinion

ORDER AFFIRMING AND ADOPTING RECOMMENDATION OF THE UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

WILEY Y. DANIEL, SENIOR UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

THIS MATTER is before the Court on Plaintiffs Motion for Entry of Default Judgment against Defendant Leonard Cordova (ECF No. 53). In his Recommendation, Magistrate Judge Hegarty recommends that the pending motion be granted in part and denied in part. (Recommendation at 1, 15-16). The Recommendation is incorporated herein by reference. See 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B), Fed.R.Civ.P. 72(b).

Magistrate Judge Hegarty advised the parties that written objections were due within fourteen (14) days after service of a copy of the Recommendation. (Recommendation at 1). Despite this advisement, no objections were filed to the Recommendation. No objections having been filed, I am vested with discretion to review the Recommendation “under any standard [I] deem[ ] appropriate.” Summers v. Utah, 927 F.2d 1165, 1167 (10th Cir.1991); see also Thomas v. Arn, 474 U.S. 140, 150, 106 S.Ct. 466, 88 L.Ed.2d 435 (1985) (stating that “[i]t does not appear that Congress intended to require district court review of a magistrate’s factual or legal conclusions, under a de novo or any other standard, when neither party objects to those findings”). Nonetheless, though not required to do so, I review the Recommendation to “satisfy [myjself that there is no clear error on the face of the record.”1 See Fed.R.Civ.P. 72(b) Advisory Committee Notes.

Having reviewed the Recommendation, I am satisfied that there is no clear error on the face of the record. I find that Magistrate Judge Hegarty’s Recommendation is thorough, well-reasoned and sound. I agree with Magistrate Judge Hegarty that a default should enter in favor of the Plaintiff and against Defendant Leonard Cordo-[1028]*1028va for the reasons stated in both the Recommendation and this Order.

Based on the foregoing, it is

ORDERED that the Recommendation of United States Magistrate Judge Hegarty (EOF No. 58) is AFFIRMED and ADOPTED. It is

FURTHER ORDERED that Plaintiffs Motion. for Entry of Default Judgment against Defendant Leonard Cordova (ECF No. 53) is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART as follows:

1. Judgment shall enter in Plaintiffs favor against Defendant Cordova for direct copyright infringement of the Plaintiffs copyrighted Motion Picture, as set forth in Count I of the Amended Complaint; and

2. Defendant Eldridge is ordered to pay to Plaintiff the sum of $2,250.00 in statutory damages, as authorized by 17 U.S.C. § 504(c)(1), and $2,986.40 for attorney’s fees and costs as authorized by 17 U.S.C. § 505.

RECOMMENDATION OF UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

Michael E. Hegarty, United States Magistrate Judge.

Plaintiff has filed a Motion for Entry of Default Judgment against Defendant Leonard Cordova (filed December 29, 2014; doc. # 53). Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B) and D.C. Colo. LCivR 72.3, the motion was referred to me for a Report and Recommendation January 5, 2015. (Doc. # 56.) The matter is briefed to the extent required by court rules and the prevailing law, and the Court finds that oral argument is not necessary for the adjudication of the motion. Based upon the record and for the reasons that follow, the Court recommends that the District Court grant in part and deny in part the motion.1

BACKGROUND

In this case, Plaintiffs allegations involve a complicated technical process used to download a copyrighted work (here, the motion picture “Dallas Buyers Club”) through the BitTorrent program; therefore, this Court finds it necessary first to explain how BitTorrent works, then to note its findings of fact in this case.

I. BitTorrent Protocol

Fortunately, several courts in this country have researched, defined and described the protocol in such a way that even technologically challenged individuals may understand the intricacies of the BitTorrent program. This Court finds particularly instructive and gratefully adopts the de[1029]*1029scription provided by the Honorable Thomas L. Ludington, District Judge for the Eastern District of Michigan, in Patrick Collins, Inc. v. John Does 1-28, No. 12-13670, 2013 WL 359759 (E.D.Mich. Jan. 29, 2013), in which Judge Ludington first defines tetfms used with the protocol, then describes how BitTorrent operates. Id. at *l-*3. First, the vocabulary used in the technology:

Internet Protocol (IP): The system of communication standards that ensures data packets transmitted over the internet reach their intended destinations.
IP Address: The unique identifying number of a device connected to the internet.
Uniform, Resource Locator (URL): The internet address assigned to a web document or resource by which it can be accessed by all web browsers. -
File: A collection of related data packets treated as a unit.
Hash Identifier: A 40-character alphanumeric string that forms a unique identifier of an encoded file.
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP): A' system of communication standards that websites use to communicate with web browsers.
BitTorrent: A peer-to-peer file sharing protocol.
Peer: A BitTorrent user.
Swarm: A group of peers sharing a particular file (identified by its unique hash identifier). A swarm has two types of peers — “leeehers” and “seeds.” It bears reiterating: to constitute a swarm, all of the peers must be sharing the same file (identified by its unique hash identifier).
Initial Seeder: A BitTorrent user who first takes a particular file (such as a movie), breaks it into pieces, encodes the pieces with hash identifiers, creates a torrent file with the data about that file and its tracker, and makes the complete file available to other BitTorrent users.
Seed: A peer who downloaded a complete file and is uploading all of its pieces to other peers in the swarm.
Leecher: A peer in the process of downloading the file from the other peers. As soon as a leecher downloads new content (a piece of the file), the leecher begins sharing its content with the other leeehers in the swarm.
Piece:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
81 F. Supp. 3d 1025, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21845, 2015 WL 782988, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dallas-buyers-club-llc-v-cordova-cod-2015.