Clerk Signs Subpoenaĭespite this legal background, the clerk at the federal court in Hawaii signed off on the request earlier this month. As such, DMCA subpoenas are not an option. This is because the “notifications” described in the DMCA could not be applied to “mere conduit” ISPs that don’t store infringing material. In two separate rulings, the DC Circuit and Eighth Circuit appeals courts eventually concluded that DMCA subpoenas can’t be issued against ISPs that are mere conduits. The ISPs argued that DMCA subpoenas are only valid when an Internet service stores or links to the infringing content, not when they merely pass on traffic. The RIAA tried a similar tactic two decades ago but was stopped in court when ISPs objected. That said, using DMCA subpoenas to identify alleged BitTorrent pirates is not without controversy. The advantages for copyright holders are clear.
This is without the time that goes into other legal paperwork and court hearings.
Filing a DMCA subpoena costs $49 while the fee for a traditional copyright complaint is $402. Using this shortcut also saves money and other resources. Speed is not the key issue here, of course. If the paperwork is submitted properly, a court clerk can sign off on it without any hassle. This approach is noteworthy because DMCA subpoenas don’t require oversight from a judge. Through the subpoena, the companies asked Hawaii Telecom to identify the account holders behind 25 IP-addresses that allegedly shared “Hellboy,” “Angel Has Fallen,” The Hitman’s Bodyguard” and other movies via BitTorrent. Instead of filing a standard copyright infringement lawsuit, the attorney requested a DMCA subpoena on behalf of several movie companies. DMCA Subpoena ShortcutĪlthough it may appear that the legal procedures surrounding these BitTorrent piracy cases are pretty much set in stone after a decade, Hawaii-based attorney Kerry Culpepper has had success with a ‘loophole’ approach recently. Other courts don’t share these reservations, and pretty much all subpoenas are signed off by a judge. Several courts have grown skeptical of these cases over the years, with some requiring rightsholders to present “ something more” than just an IP-address as evidence. This request is then reviewed by a judge, who may or may not sign off on it. The copyright holder files a complaint and requests a subpoena from the court requiring an ISP to identify the account holder connected to the ‘infringing’ IP-address. Most of these cases follow a procedure that’s well defined. Hundreds of new cases are filed every year, with most targeting a single defendant per lawsuit.
Over the past decade, hundreds of thousands of people have been accused of sharing pirated content via BitTorrent.įile-sharing lawsuits are a common phenomenon in US courts as well.
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