Malibu Media, LLC v. John Doe subscriber assigned IP address 76.126.99.126

Filing 129

ORDER RE SEALING MOTION by Hon. William Alsup granting in part and denying in part 127 Motion to seal.(whalc1, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 12/23/2016)

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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MALIBU MEDIA, LLC,

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For the Northern District of California

United States District Court

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Plaintiff,
v.
JOHN DOE Subscriber Assigned IP
Address 76.126.99.126,

ORDER RE SEALING MOTION

Defendant.
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And All Related Cross-Actions.
/

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No. C 15-04441 WHA

Defendant has moved to keep portions of the Court’s order denying his motion to quash

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subpoenas under seal, citing concerns that excerpts from Internet posts allegedly made by him

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and his user name could be used to identify him, thereby exposing him to embarrassment and

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pressure to settle this litigation. The motion is GRANTED, with one exception. Page 4 of the

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order reads “Malibu Media identifies numerous other posts by the user [defendant’s username]

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on the forgoing websites and others, not set forth in detail in this order, many of which refer to

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masturbation, pornography, voyeurism [and other topics].” In addition to his user name (which

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may be redacted), defendant seeks to redact the text “masturbation, pornography, voyeurism”

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(though not the subsequent topics). These generic references cannot be used to identify

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defendant in any way, so there is no good cause to redact that text. To that extent only,

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defendant’s motion is DENIED.

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To be clear, this is without prejudice to whether the same or similar materials may be
redacted or sealed in future filings or proceedings, including at trial.

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IT IS SO ORDERED.

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Dated: December 23, 2016.

WILLIAM ALSUP
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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For the Northern District of California

United States District Court

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