Venice PI, LLC v. Doe 1

CourtDistrict Court, D. Hawaii
DecidedDecember 31, 2019
Docket1:18-cv-00192
StatusUnknown

This text of Venice PI, LLC v. Doe 1 (Venice PI, LLC v. Doe 1) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Hawaii primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Venice PI, LLC v. Doe 1, (D. Haw. 2019).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

DISTRICT OF HAWAII

VENICE PI, LLC, HEADHUNTER, CIV. NO. 18-00192 LEK-RT LLC, MON LLC, COOK PRODUCTIONS, LLC, COLOSSAL MOVIE PRODUCTIONS, LLC, CLEAR SKIES NEVADA, LLC, BODYGUARD PRODUCTIONS, INC., I.T. PRODUCTIONS, LLC, COBBLER NEVADA, LLC, JUSTICE EVERYWHERE PRODUCTIONS, INC., GLACIER FILMS 1, LLC, MILLENNIUM FUNDING, INC., TBV PRODUCTIONS, LLC,

Plaintiffs,

vs.

GALBATROSS TECHNOLOGIES, LLP, HIMANSHU SAXENA, GAURAV JAGGI,

Defendants.

ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFFS’ RENEWED APPLICATION FOR ENTRY OF TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER AND PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION

On August 16, 2019, Plaintiffs Venice PI, LLC; Headhunter LLC; MON LLC; Millennium Funding, Inc.; TBV Productions, LLC; Cook Productions, LLC; Glacier Films 1, LLC; Colossal Movie Productions, LLC; Clear Skies Nevada, LLC; Bodyguard Productions, Inc.; I.T. Productions, LLC; Cobbler Nevada, LLC; and Justice Everywhere Productions, Inc. (“Plaintiffs”) filed, ex parte, their Renewed Application for Entry of Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction (“Motion”).1 [Dkt. no. 87.] On September 5, 2019, Plaintiffs filed a supplemental memorandum in support of the Motion. [Dkt. no. 90.] The Court finds this matter suitable for disposition without a hearing pursuant to Rule LR7.1(c) of the Local Rules of Practice for the United States District Court for the

District of Hawaii (“Local Rules”). The Motion’s request for a TRO is hereby denied for the reasons set forth below. BACKGROUND Some of the current Plaintiffs, along with other entities, initiated this action on May 23, 2018.2 [Complaint (dkt. no. 1).] The operative pleading is Plaintiffs’ Second Amended Complaint, filed on December 5, 2018. [Dkt. no. 54.] Plaintiffs each own one or more copyrights to various motion pictures listed in the Second Amended Complaint (collectively “the Works”). [Id. at ¶ 8.] “Each of the Works are motion pictures currently offered for sale in commerce.” [Id. at ¶ 90.] Plaintiffs allege Defendants Galbatross Technologies,

LLP (“Galbatross”); Himanshu Saxena (“Saxena”); Gaurav Jaggi (“Jaggi”); DOE 5, doing business as

1 In light of the denial of the Motion’s request for a temporary restraining order (“TRO”), the Court will reserve ruling on the portion of the Motion seeking a preliminary injunction until the completion of service.

2 A First Amended Complaint was filed on August 13, 2018. [Dkt. no. 26.] show-box.en.uptodown.com/android (“Doe 5”); Rajat Kulshrestha (“Kulshrestha”); Ipathy Srinivas Rao (“Rao”), and Monitu Bansal (“Bansal” and collectively “Defendants”) utilize the Show Box software application (“Show Box app”) to engage in “massive piracy of” the Works. [Id. at pg. 1.] According to Plaintiffs,

“Defendants misleadingly promote the Show Box app as a legitimate means for viewing content to the public, who eagerly install the Show Box app to watch copyright protected content, thereby leading to profit for the Defendants.” [Id. at ¶ 1.] Plaintiffs bring this action pursuant to the United States Copyright Act of 1976, as amended (“Copyright Act”), 17 U.S.C. § 101, et seq. [Id. at ¶ 2.] Plaintiffs allege the following claims: contributory copyright infringement, based on the inducement of third parties to stream the Works (“Count I”); contributory copyright infringement, based on the inducement of third parties to torrent the Works (“Count II”); contributory copyright infringement, based on Defendants’ material

contribution to the infringement upon Plaintiffs’ rights under the Copyright Act (“Count III”); and direct copyright infringement (“Count IV”). Plaintiffs and Rao stipulated to a consent judgment, [filed 12/28/18 (dkt. no. 63),] and Plaintiffs also did so with Doe 5 – who was identified as Lahoucine Ikous, [filed 2/1/19 (dkt. no. 66),] Bansal, [filed 2/1/19 (dkt. no. 67),] and Kulshrestha, [filed 5/23/19 (dkt. no. 78)]. Thus, the only defendants remaining in this action are Galbatross, Saxena, and Jaggi (“Remaining Defendants”). Plaintiffs have made multiple attempts to effectuate service upon the Remaining Defendants, but have been unsuccessful. See, e.g., Submission of Report of

Service per Hague Convention of Def. Pebblebridge Technologies, LLP,3 filed 12/12/19 (dkt. no. 98) (documents showing that attempted service on Galbatross at a Business Park address in India was unsuccessful); Decl. of Stephanie Kessner, filed 7/17/19 (dkt. no. 85) (with documents showing that attempted service on Jaggi at a Green Park address in India, in accordance with the Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents (“Hague Convention”), was unsuccessful); summons returned unexecuted, filed 5/7/19 (dkt. no. 75) (similar Hague Convention documents as to attempted service upon Saxena at a Green Park address in India).4 A new summons was issued for service upon Jaggi at a residential address in Gurgaon, India,

[Summons in a Civil Case, filed 9/17/19 (dkt. no. 93),] but no return has been filed.

3 The title of the document erroneously refers to another entity, but the text of the document refers to Galbatross.

4 The Saxena service documents do not have an declaration of counsel like the one filed with the Jaggi service documents. Plaintiffs previously filed two ex parte motions for authorization to utilize alternate service of process for the Remaining Defendants, but both motions were denied. [Ex parte motion, filed 5/23/19 (dkt. no. 79) (“5/23/19 Motion”); ex parte motion, filed 7/10/19 (dkt. no. 84) (“7/10/19 Motion”); order

denying 5/23/19 Motion, filed 6/28/19 (dkt. no. 83) (“6/28/19 Order”); order denying 7/10/19 Motion, filed 8/30/19 (dkt. no. 89) (“8/30/19 Order”).] In the instant Motion, Plaintiffs seek a TRO requiring: the registrar NameCheap, Inc. to immediately lock the following domains associated with [the Remaining Defendants] to prevent [them] from transferring said domains to a registrar outside of the United States:

galbatross.com; show-box.one; showboxmediagroup.org; showboxme.com; showboxforpcguide.com; showboxcomputer.com; showboxapp.me; showboxapkdownloads.com; showboxandroid.com; showbox360.com; downloadshowboxapps.com; downloadshowboxapp.co; app-showbox.com; showoxforpc.me; showboxforpc.xyz; showboxforpc.me; showboxforpc.io; showboxforpc.download; forpcdownload.com; downloadshowbox.co; downloadshowbox.app; cinemaboxhdi.com; cinemabox- hd.com; terrariumtv.org; terrariumtv.net; terrarium-tv.com[.]

[Motion at 1-2.] DISCUSSION The requirements to obtain a TRO or a preliminary injunction are well-established. See Winter v. Nat’l Res. Def. Council, Inc., 555 U.S. 7, 20 (2008) (“A plaintiff seeking a preliminary injunction must establish that he is likely to succeed on the merits, that he is likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief, that the balance of equities tips in his favor, and that an injunction is in the

public interest.” (citations omitted)); Washington v. Trump, 847 F.3d 1151, 1159 n.3 (9th Cir. 2017) (per curiam) (“the legal standards applicable to TROs and preliminary injunctions are substantially identical” (citation and internal quotation marks omitted)). Further, under very limited circumstances, a district court may grant a plaintiff’s request for a TRO without notice to the defendant. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 65(b)(1); Reno Air Racing Ass’n v. McCord, 452 F.3d 1126

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

Related

International Shoe Co. v. Washington
326 U.S. 310 (Supreme Court, 1945)
Helicopteros Nacionales De Colombia, S. A. v. Hall
466 U.S. 408 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Burger King Corp. v. Rudzewicz
471 U.S. 462 (Supreme Court, 1985)
CollegeSource, Inc. v. AcademyOne, Inc.
653 F.3d 1066 (Ninth Circuit, 2011)
Dakota Industries, Inc. v. Dakota Sportswear, Inc.
946 F.2d 1384 (Eighth Circuit, 1991)
Cybersell, Inc. v. Cybersell, Inc.
130 F.3d 414 (Ninth Circuit, 1997)
Reno Air Racing Association, Inc. v. Jerry McCord
452 F.3d 1126 (Ninth Circuit, 2006)
Merial Ltd. v. Cipla Ltd.
681 F.3d 1283 (Federal Circuit, 2012)
Washington Shoe Company v. A-Z Sporting Goods Inc
704 F.3d 668 (Ninth Circuit, 2012)
Cowan v. First Ins. Co. of Hawaii, Ltd.
608 P.2d 394 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1980)
Zippo Manufacturing Co. v. Zippo Dot Com, Inc.
952 F. Supp. 1119 (W.D. Pennsylvania, 1997)
Tuckerbrook Alternative Investments, LP v. Banerjee
754 F. Supp. 2d 177 (D. Massachusetts, 2010)
Walden v. Fiore
134 S. Ct. 1115 (Supreme Court, 2014)
State of Washington v. Donald J. Trump
847 F.3d 1151 (Ninth Circuit, 2017)
Carolyn Lazar v. Mark Kroncke
862 F.3d 1186 (Ninth Circuit, 2017)
Axiom Foods, Inc. v. Acerchem International, Inc.
874 F.3d 1064 (Ninth Circuit, 2017)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Venice PI, LLC v. Doe 1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/venice-pi-llc-v-doe-1-hid-2019.