*1 1 HONORABLE RONALD B. LEIGHTON UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT TACOMA PAPER STREET MEDIA, LLC, CASE NO. C17-5311-RBL Plaintiff, ORDER ON LIMITED EARLY v. DISCOVERY MW MEDIA, DKT. #16 Defendant.
THIS MATTER is before the Court on Plaintiff Paper Street Media’s Ex Parte Motion for Early Discovery [Dkt. #16]. Paper Street asks for limited discovery to ascertain the identities of all owners and operators of Eporner.com and Eprncdn.com, websites it alleges have infringed its pornographic videos by duplicating and distributing them without prior authorization. Paper Street has shown the defendants are real persons or entities, that it cannot identify them without early discovery, and that its suit could possibly withstand a motion to dismiss. See Columbia Ins. Co. v. Seescandy.com , 185 F.R.D. 573, 578–80 (N.D. Cal. 1999) (setting forth a test describing when a court could permit discovery prior to a Rule 26(f) conference for the purpose of identifying anonymous defendants). Paper Street, therefore, may serve discovery demands on WhoisProxy.com, Moniker.com d/b/a Key-Systems GmbH, Domains By Proxy LLC, ORDER ON LIMITED EARLY DISCOVERY - 1
*2 1 GoDaddy.com LLC, Copyright Agent c/o Incorporate Now, and PayPal Holdings Inc. for information identifying their customers—Eporner.com’s and Eprncdn.com’s owners and operators. At this time, Paper Street may not serve discovery on Internet Service Providers for IP addresses used to access the Defendants’ sites, as such discovery goes beyond identifying the Defendants. Paper Street’s Motion [Dkt. #16] is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated this 31 st day of August, 2017.
A Ronald B. Leighton United States District Judge DKT. #16 - 2