Disney Enterprises, Inc. et al v. Hotfile Corp. et al

Filing 104

Plaintiff's MOTION for Protective Order PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR A PROTECTIVE ORDER REGARDING PLAINTIFFS' ANTIPIRACY INVESTIGATIONS AND ENFORCEMENT PROCEDURES by Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Disney Enterprises, Inc., Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Universal City Studios Productions LLLP, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.. (Attachments: # 1 Text of Proposed Order)(Stetson, Karen)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA CASE NO. 11-20427-JORDAN DISNEY ENTERPRISES, INC., TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM CORPORATION, UNIVERSAL CITY STUDIOS PRODUCTIONS LLLP, COLUMBIA PICTURES INDUSTRIES, INC., and WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT INC., Plaintiffs, v. HOTFILE CORP., ANTON TITOV, and DOES 1-10. Defendants. / PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR A PROTECTIVE ORDER REGARDING PLAINTIFFS’ ANTIPIRACY INVESTIGATIONS AND ENFORCEMENT PROCEDURES Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c) and Southern District of Florida Local Rule 26.1(h)(3), Plaintiffs hereby move for a protective order protecting from discovery in this Action certain highly sensitive information pertaining to their strategies and processes for investigating and responding to infringement of their copyrighted works online, including on the Defendants’ Hotfile website. For the reasons explained in the accompanying Memorandum of Law, the steps that the Plaintiffs take to detect and respond to infringement of their copyrighted content by Defendants and by others on the Internet are irrelevant to Defendants’ culpability for copyright infringement. In addition, the information that Defendants are seeking is extremely sensitive, and improper use or disclosure thereof could severely prejudice the ability of the Plaintiffs to effectively protect their content online. Therefore, even if there were any marginal relevance to the information Defendants are seeking, its probative value would be eclipsed by the potential prejudice of such discovery to Plaintiffs. Normally, Plaintiffs would simply interpose objections to Defendants’ discovery requests, and have done so insofar as Defendants have sought discovery about Plaintiffs’ antipiracy strategies and processes from Plaintiffs directly. However, the need for this motion arises because the Defendants have turned to also subpoenaing the records of several antipiracy vendors that carry out the Plaintiffs’ investigations and responses to online content theft on Plaintiffs behalf, and Plaintiffs believe are therefore in possession of documents reflecting sensitive and confidential information about Plaintiffs’ strategies and practices in this area.1 WHEREFORE, for the reasons stated in the accompanying Memorandum of Law, Plaintiffs move the Court to enter an order protecting from discovery in this Action the specific categories of information about Plaintiffs’ antipiracy strategies and processes identified and described in the Memorandum. These categories primarily arise with respect to information Defendants have sought to subpoena from third parties that act on Plaintiffs’ behalf, however Plaintiffs respectfully request the Court clarify that any protection extends to any efforts by Defendants to seek the same information through other requests.2 A proposed order granting the requested relief has been filed herewith. 1 At the July 8, 2011 status conference, the Court instructed the parties to file by July 22, 2011 any discovery motions that were delayed as a result of the Court’s June 27, 2011 order denying without prejudice the parties’ joint motion to extend to sixty days the time for bringing motions to compel or motions for a protective order. Therefore, Plaintiffs are filing this motion today per the Court’s instructions. 2 Plaintiffs have itemized for the Court in the accompanying Memorandum each of Defendants’ specific discovery requests, both to third parties and Plaintiffs, that overlap with the protection Plaintiffs are seeking. 2 CERTIFICATE OF GOOD FAITH CONFERENCE I HEREBY CERTIFY that, pursuant to Local Rule 7.1(a)(3), U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, counsel for plaintiffs have conferred with counsel for defendants Hotfile Corp. and Anton Titov in a good faith effort to resolve the issues raised in this Motion, but have been unable to do so, as described in the accompanying Declaration of Luke C. Platzer. Dated: July 22, 2011 Respectfully submitted, By: /s/ Karen L. Stetson_ Karen L. Stetson GRAY-ROBINSON, P.A. 1221 Brickell Avenue 16th Floor Miami, Fl 33131 Telephone: (305) 461-6880 Facsimile: (305) 461-6887 MOTION PICTURE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, INC. Karen R. Thorland (Pro Hac Vice) 15301 Ventura Blvd. Building E Sherman Oaks, CA 91403 Phone: (818) 995-6600 Fax: (818) 285-4403 JENNER & BLOCK LLP Steven B. Fabrizio (Pro Hac Vice) Duane C. Pozza (Pro Hac Vice) Luke C. Platzer (Pro Hac Vice) 1099 New York Ave., N.W. Suite 900 Washington, DC 20001 Telephone: (202) 639-6000 Facsimile: (202) 639-6066 Attorneys for Plaintiffs 3 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I HEREBY CERTIFY that on this 22d Day of July, 2011, I served the following documents on all counsel of record on the attached service list via the Court’s CM/ECF filing system: Plaintiffs’ Motion For a Protective Order Regarding Plaintiffs’ Antipiracy Investigations and Enforcement Procedures I further certify that I am admitted to the United States Court for the Southern District of Florida and certify that this certificate of Service was executed on this date at Miami, FL. By: /s/ Karen L. Stetson Karen L. Stetson 4 SERVICE LIST Disney Enterprises, Inc., et al. v. Hotfile Corp. et al. CASE NO. 11-CIV-20427-JORDAN RASCO KLOCK Janet T. Munn jmunn@rascoklock.com 283 Catalonia Ave., Suite 200 Coral Gables, FL 33134 Phone: 305-476-7101 Fax: 305-476-7102 FARELLA BRAUN + MARTEL LLP Anthony P. Schoenberg tschoenberg@fbm.com Roderick M. Thompson rthompson@fbm.com N. Andrew Leibnitz aleibnitz@fbm.com Deepak Gupta dgupta@fbm.com Janel Thamkul jthamkul@fbm.com 235 Montgomery Street San Francisco, CA 94104 Phone: 415-954-4400 Attorney for Defendants Hotfile Corp. and Anton Titov Attorneys for Defendants Hotfile Corp. and Anton Titov BOSTON LAW GROUP, PC Valentin Gurvits vgurvits@bostonlawgroup.com 825 Beacon Street, Suite 20 Newton Centre, MA 02459 Phone: 617-928-1804 Attorneys for Defendants Hotfile Corp. and Anton Titov 5

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