IO GROUP INC v. DOES

Full title: IO GROUP INC, Plaintiff, v. DOES 1-435, Defendants

Court: United States District Court, N.D. California

Date published: Oct 15, 2010

No. C-10-04382 DMR (N.D. Cal. Oct. 15, 2010)

Opinion

No. C-10-04382 DMR.

October 15, 2010

ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF'S REQUEST FOR LEAVE TO TAKE EARLY DISCOVERY

DONNA RYU, Magistrate Judge

Plaintiff has filed an administrative request seeking leave to take discovery prior to the Rule 26 conference. See Docket No. 4. Having considered Plaintiff's papers and accompanying submissions, the Court hereby GRANTS the administrative request on the grounds that Plaintiff has demonstrated good cause to take early discovery. See Semitool, Inc. v. Tokyo Electron Am., Inc., 208 F.R.D. 273, 276 (N.D. Cal. 2002). Specifically, Plaintiff has shown that limited discovery of basic identifying information is necessary to permit Plaintiff to effect service on the Doe defendants. See Columbia Ins. Co. v. seescandy.com, 185 F.R.D. 573, 577-580 (N.D. Cal. 1999) (identifying safeguards to ensure that a plaintiff is not seeking early discovery to harass or intimidate defendants).

For the reasons stated by Judge Illston in her order in Io Group, Inc. v. Does, No. C 10-03851 SI, slip. op. at 4-5 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 23, 2010), the Court deems it unnecessary to make any statement regarding compliance with the Cable Communications Policy Act, 47 U.S.C. § 551. See also UMG Recordings, Inc. v. Does, No. 06-0652 SBA (EMC), 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 32821, at *10-11 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 6, 2006). Regardless of whether the Act applies, Comcast Internet shall be required to provide notice to the subscribers, and the discovery provided shall be limited within the parameters allowed under the Act, as follows:

Plaintiff is granted leave to serve the proposed subpoena attached as Exhibit A to Plaintiff's administrative request upon Comcast Internet. Comcast Internet, in turn, shall serve a copy of the subpoena and a copy of this Order upon its relevant subscribers within five days of its receipt of the subpoena. The subscribers shall then have 15 days from the date of service upon them to file any objections with this Court. If that 15-day period elapses without a subscriber filing an objection or a motion to quash, Comcast Internet shall have 10 days after said lapse to produce the information to Plaintiff pursuant to the subpoena.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: October 15, 2010