Malibu Media, LLC v. Doe

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

MALIBU MEDIA, LLC, Plaintiff, v. Civil Action No. 16-2014 (DLF)

JOHN DOE subscriber assigned IP address 173.73.209.130,

Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Before the Court is Malibu Media LLC’s Motion for Leave to Serve a Third Party Subpoena Prior to a Rule 26(f) Conference. Dkt. 4. For the reasons that follow, the Court will grant the motion. Malibu Media shall serve its subpoena consistent with this opinion and the accompanying order.

I. BACKGROUND

Malibu Media owns a subscription-based pornography website. See Compl. { 2, Dkt. 1; Pl.’s Mem. at 3, Dkt. 4-1. It alleges that the unnamed defendant John Doe, via Internet Protocol (IP) address 173.73.209.130, infringed copyrighted material by copying and distributing videos in violation of the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. 8§ 101 et seg. Compl. {ff 2, 30-35. Malibu Media does not know John Doe’s true identity, but alleges that its investigator used geolocation technology! to trace John Doe’s IP address to the District of Columbia. Id. 5. To identify John

Doe, Malibu Media now seeks leave to serve a subpoena on John Doe’s Internet Service

' Malibu Media states that “[b]ased upon experience filing over 1,000 cases the geolocation technology used by Plaintiff has proven to be accurate to the District level in over 99% of the cases.” Compl. § 6.