Copyright Infringement Advisor

Motion To Quash Subpoenas In Copyright Infringement Cases

By John Whitaker on Posted in I.P. Address Suits, Online piracy

Motion to Quash subpoena in copyright troll caseThere is a ton of coverage about Motions to Quash the subpoenas that are being served in these mass-infringement cases.  There are also several pretty good sample Motions to Quash out there.  But the question is: which one do I use?  The answer should be, the one that works.

With that in mind, I decided to do a survey of as many Motions to Quash as I can come up with.  My plan is to evaluate them with an eye, not toward how good they sound, but did they work.  I will then publish my opinion on which legal theories are most likely to win in your own motion to quash, and which legal theories you should stay away from.

If anyone out there wants to help with this task, just shoot me a message or leave me a comment below. I hope to have some results soon.

Here are some of the cases I’m looking at:

Third Degree Films, Inc. v. Does 1-152, 1:11-cv-01833 (DCD)

Celestial, Inc. v. Does 1-252, 2:12-cv-00082 (FLMD)

Boy Racer, Inc. v. Does 1-60, 3:11-cv-01738 (CAND)

Malibu Media, LLC v. Does 1-15, 2:12-cv-02090 (PAED)

Cinetel Films, Inc. v. Does 1-1052, 8:11-cv-02438 (MDD)

  • http://fightcopyrighttrolls.com/ SJD

    John, thanks for linking to the sample that was given to me almost a year ago, but… I should have put a disclaimer that it is really outdated. This area of law is fluid, arguments becomes obsolete as trolls adapt (in part because we tirelessly hammer them in blogs), and new arguments emerge.

    As for me, I personally wrote my only motion more than a year ago. Unlike today, no resources for pro se defendants in trolling cases were widely available. It was tough, and today my motion looks naïve in many respects.

    I strongly suggest contacting DieTrollDie, as he was on top of the amateur motion writing: he created numerous templates himself and collected many attorney-written ones. His site lists many.

    I’m currently working on a crowdsourcing initiative — trollwiki.org and I hope you will participate: various strategies must be enumerated and complemented with facts to help those troll victims who cannot afford legal representation; defense attorneys and their clients will also benefit: saving on the research time will impact the cost of defense.