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A movie studio that has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against a cable internet provider is trying to force Reddit to identify users who have posted comments about copyright infringement.
The lawsuit was filed in 2021 in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey against cable company RCN by Bodyguard Productions, Millennium Media, and other film companies over the download of 34 movies. hell boy, Rambo V: Last Blood, Teslaand hitman bodyguardIn an attempt to prove that RCN turned a blind eye to users downloading copyrighted movies, plaintiffs sent a subpoena to Reddit last month asking for the identities of nine users.
Plaintiffs specifically asked Reddit for “registrations and logs of IP addresses, names, email addresses, and other account registration information from January 1, 2016 to the present” for nine users. A Reddit response gave information on at least one of her users, but not on eight of her other users. According to the film studio, Reddit said, “The request to identify information related to the additional eight accounts is irrelevant due to the nature of the fishing expedition and is not permitted under the First Amendment.” claimed.
Now the studio hopes a federal court will force Reddit’s hand. The film company filed a motion last week in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California to compel Reddit to respond to the subpoena. The ongoing controversy surrounding the latest filings and subpoenas is detailed in a TorrentFreak article published Saturday.
“The evidence demanded from Reddit by plaintiffs in their Rule 45 subpoenas is clearly relevant and proportionate to the need for litigation,” the film studio’s motion said. Comments from Reddit users “demonstrate that RCN does not reasonably enforce policies to weed out repeat infringers,” and that “RCN controls subscriber behavior and controls subscriber access.” ,” and “demonstrate the ability to freely engage in piracy without consequences.” It was a draw to become an RCN subscriber. ”
Eight years ago, a Reddit user called RCN ‘pretty lazy’
For example, a filmmaker wants to identify Reddit user ChikaraFan. As that user once wrote, “RCN seems pretty loose…I checked before switching and had few problems.” The motion to compel describes the subpoena dispute as follows:
Reddit wrote, “The post from ‘Chikarafan’ mentions RCN but is eight years old and therefore well beyond the 3 year statute of limitations we understand to apply to this issue. claim to be. Rather, plaintiffs hope to use Chikarafan’s statements as evidence of RCN’s “fairly lax” policy for weeding out repeat infringers, and that this “fairly lax” policy is a trigger for becoming a customer. Plaintiff may contact Chikara Fan using the information requested in the subpoena to authenticate her/his postings and obtain evidence to support their claims.
Plaintiffs say Reddit’s claims should be dismissed because “discoverable information need not be admissible as evidence” under federal regulations. However, the Reddit post could help the studio refute his RCN claim that it “does not monitor subscriber access nor has the ability to control subscriber behavior.” Yes, the motion said. In one case, the film studio said his Reddit post from 13 years ago “provides RCN has technical competence.” [to monitor users]If the RCN had abilities 13 years ago, they certainly still have them now. “
