Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. John Doe subscriber assigned IP address 70.179.11.5

I. Background

23 On March 4, 2020, Plaintiff filed this Complaint against “John Doe,” who is 24 allegedly a subscriber of Cox Communications and assigned Internet Protocol (“IP”) 25 address 70.179.11.5 (“Defendant”). ECF No. 1, ¶ 5. Plaintiff Strike 3 Holdings, LLC, is 26 the owner of numerous adult motion pictures, which Plaintiff distributes through adult 27 websites and DVDs. Id. at ¶¶ 2–3. Plaintiff alleges Defendant infringed its copyrights by 28 using the BitTorrent file distribution network, one of the most common peer-to-peer file sharing systems used to distribute data such as digital movie files. Id. at ¶¶ 18-47. Plaintiff alleges Defendant downloaded, copied, and distributed several of Plaintiff’s works without authorization. Id.; see also id., Ex. A. In this instant motion, Plaintiff seeks leave to conduct early discovery prior to the mandated Rule 26(f) conference to learn the identity of the subscriber of the IP address from the Internet Service Provider (“ISP”) who leased the address. ECF No. 4. Specifically, Plaintiff seeks an order permitting it to serve a third-party subpoena under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 45 on Cox…