Atlantic Recording Corp. v. Does 1-125

File Sharing – In this case, sixteen music companies sued 125 anonymous, unrelated, and geographically disparate individuals in a single action in this District, solely because their Internet Service Provider, Cox Communications, Inc. was located in Georgia. The plaintiffs alleged that each defendant each made available to the general public files from his or her personal computer containing different copyrighted musical performances. They subpoenaed Cox, seeking the defendants’ names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, and MAC addresses to serve summons or settlement offers. John Doe #35 challenged the discovery subpoena on grounds of personal jurisdiction and improper joinder. Public Citizen argues that his arguments apply to every defendant.

We filed a motion to quash the subpoena. While our motion was pending, before the RIAA responded, our client opted to settle.