Paper Street Media, LLC v. MW Media et al

Filing 19

ORDER granting in part and denying in part 16 Plaintiff's Motion for Discovery, as more fully set forth in this Order; signed by Judge Ronald B. Leighton.(DN)

HONORABLE RONALD B. LEIGHTON

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON
AT TACOMA

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PAPER STREET MEDIA, LLC,

CASE NO. C17-5311-RBL

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Plaintiff,
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v.
MW MEDIA,

ORDER ON LIMITED EARLY
DISCOVERY
DKT. #16

Defendant.

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THIS MATTER is before the Court on Plaintiff Paper Street Media’s Ex Parte Motion

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for Early Discovery [Dkt. #16]. Paper Street asks for limited discovery to ascertain the identities

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of all owners and operators of Eporner.com and Eprncdn.com, websites it alleges have infringed

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its pornographic videos by duplicating and distributing them without prior authorization. Paper

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Street has shown the defendants are real persons or entities, that it cannot identify them without

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early discovery, and that its suit could possibly withstand a motion to dismiss. See Columbia Ins.

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Co. v. Seescandy.com, 185 F.R.D. 573, 578–80 (N.D. Cal. 1999) (setting forth a test describing

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when a court could permit discovery prior to a Rule 26(f) conference for the purpose of

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identifying anonymous defendants). Paper Street, therefore, may serve discovery demands on

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WhoisProxy.com, Moniker.com d/b/a Key-Systems GmbH, Domains By Proxy LLC,

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ORDER ON LIMITED EARLY DISCOVERY - 1

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GoDaddy.com LLC, Copyright Agent c/o Incorporate Now, and PayPal Holdings Inc. for

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information identifying their customers—Eporner.com’s and Eprncdn.com’s owners and

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operators. At this time, Paper Street may not serve discovery on Internet Service Providers for IP

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addresses used to access the Defendants’ sites, as such discovery goes beyond identifying the

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Defendants. Paper Street’s Motion [Dkt. #16] is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN

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PART.

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IT IS SO ORDERED.

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Dated this 31st day of August, 2017.

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A

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Ronald B. Leighton
United States District Judge

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DKT. #16 - 2