These have been some eventful weeks in the world of copyright trolling. Thousands of unnamed “John Does” in P2P file sharing lawsuits filed in California, Washington DC, Texas, and West Virginia have been severed, effectively dismissing over 40,000 defendants. The plaintiffs in these cases must now re-file against almost all of the Does individually rather than suing them en mass. These rulings may have a significant impact on the copyright trolls’ business model, which relies on being able to sue thousands of Does at once with a minimum of administrative expense. The cost of filing suit against each Doe may prove prohibitively expensive to plaintiffs’ attorneys who are primarily interested in extracting quick, low-hassle settlements.
However, EFF has received reports that some Does are still receiving notices from their ISP’s informing them that their identities are being sought in relation to these cases. If you receive a notice from your ISP informing you that it has received a subpoena requesting your subscriber information in connection with one of the cases in the spreadsheet attached below, please contact EFF immediately by emailing info@eff.org.
