Judge Orders Cloudflare To Turn Over Identifying Data In Copyright Case (techspot.com)

Cal Jeffrey reporting for TechSpot: Back in May, several studios started targeting movie-pirating sites and services. Dallas Buyers Club, Cobbler Nevada, Bodyguard Productions, and several other copyright owners filed a lawsuit against ShowBox, a movie-streaming app for mobile devices. The companies tried pressuring CDN and DDoS protection provider Cloudflare into releasing information on the operators of some of these platforms. However, Cloudflare told them if they wanted such information they would have to get it the right way -- through legal action.

The plaintiffs did just that. A subpoena was issued in the case from a federal court in Hawaii. The documents were not made public, but TorrentFreak was able to obtain a portion of the subpoena from a source. The court order demands the details of the operators behind the Showboxbuzz website, Showbox.software, website Rawapk, Popcorn Time, and others. Cloudflare has not filed a motion to quash, so it appears likely that the company will hand over the requested data.

Comments

Suspicious.

[Gravis Zero]

It seems exceptionally suspicious that they chose to take legal action in Hawaii (halfway around the world) especially when their very names indicate their location on the US mainland. Seems like they may have found their eastern Texas of copyrights.

I'm not saying it's illegal but it's definitely not aboveboard.

Re:Suspicious.

[Anonymous Coward]

It seems exceptionally suspicious that they chose to take legal action in Hawaii .

-

It's called "having a judge in your pocket".

Re: Suspicious.

[Anonymous Coward]

Why are they not using a court where they are based? What's the reason for using a court in Hawaii?
It's like the patent trolls all filing suits in the East Texas court.

Re:Suspicious.

[Aighearach]

"Dallas Buyers Club" is the name of a movie. It is not a local business in Dallas.

Re:Suspicious.

[vakuona]

I am not a lawyer, but if I could guess, I reckon they filed it in Hawaii because:
  - It's being filed in a federal court, therefore the jurisdiction of the court is probably "all of the USA"
  - Likely Cloudflare has business in Hawaii, therefore they can be sued anywhere they do business.
  - Plaintiffs will then sue / file wherever they believe they are likely to get a favourable outcome. This part is basic strategy. Why would they file where they might not get a favourable outcome?

Re: Suspicious.

[ixidor]

because its pretty much guaranteed that the suing companies are in any way based out of HI. and cloudflare certainly is not . so then the question becomes what standing to they have to choose that specific location. if they had picked one of the states the suing companies are based out of, or one where cloudflare has an office it could still be argued over standing, and those would at least make sense. HI seems like it was chosen purely out of spite, or someone has a judge bought and paid for.

Re:Suspicious.

[Gadget_Guy]

You are right that they are not based in Dallas, but they are in the same state. Dallas Buyers Club, LLC was founded in 2012 and is based in The Woodlands, Texas. Their address is:

2710 Buckthorne Place
Suite 400
The Woodlands, TX 77380
United States

Source: Bloomberg
Here is a report of Dallas Buyers Club, LLC suing an Australian ISP about the film Dallas Buyers Club showing that they are linked.

Re:Suspicious.

[AmiMoJo]

"Cobbler Nevada" is the name of the company making the copyright claim.

Re:Suspicious.

[nasch]

- It's being filed in a federal court, therefore the jurisdiction of the court is probably "all of the USA"

I had a hard time finding information on this, but I thought only the Supreme Court has jurisdiction over the whole country (other than some courts in specialized areas). I'm pretty sure the decisions of circuit courts are only binding within that circuit, which would seem to imply they can only hear cases that arise from within the circuit in some way. Anyone have more information?

Re: Suspicious.

[AutodidactLabrat]

Because it is required by the Constitution that any criminal charges shall be pursued in the district wherein the crime shall have been committed, that's why.

Re: Suspicious.

[ole_timer]

because the plaintiff or the defendant is located there...doh

Re: Suspicious.

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

Why are criminal charges relevant here?

Re:Suspicious.

[Aighearach]

And yet, it is not a trade organization for cobblers in Nevada.

Yes-ish...

[Anonymous Coward]

Generally speaking subpoenas are signed by attorneys licensed to practice before the court rather than by the judge as a practical matter, although there are some exceptions. Then if the subpoena is not legit the person or entity being asked to provide the information can fight it if it makes sense to do so. A judge likely hasn't looked at this yet and won't unless Cloudflare decides they want to fight it, since why would you get a judge involved if everyone agrees on what their legal obligations are with regard to disclosing the information about the customers?

Cloudflare doing it right

[jaa101]

Cloudflare is doing the right thing. They are neither handing over customer data on the request of copyright holders nor wasting time trying to protect customers from the law. They've required a judge to decide on the need to disclose customer's identities, so their customers can hardly complain.

This is supposed to be how it works

[dirk]

I have no issue with this at all as this is exactly how it is supposed to work. They should go before a judge and prove they have enough evidence that supports their case that the judge feels ti is worth while to release the information. ISPs and other companies shouldn't release this information without a court order, but should comply with a court order if one is obtained.

Re: This is supposed to be how it works

[im_thatoneguy]

Yeah I think this is far from an abuse of the legal system. Someone has a complaint, they go to a judge and that judge allows them to subpoena relevant info to the case.

As to copyright enforcement. I still think th only reason the holders lost public support is the absurd punishment. If people had been slapped with $40 fines like a parking ticket I think the legal and public opinion landscape would be radically different.

âoeYou downloaded a Metallica album. That will be $52.â
âoeDamn you got me. Here you go.â

Instead when a single mother is on the hook for $10,000 to an industry based on spurious evidence... the moral reaction is to fight back.

$10k+ fines are definitely warranted for developers profiting like Popcorn Time but there needs to be a proportional response for run of the mill infringement akin to taking your chances by not paying the meter while running in to a store.

Re:This is supposed to be how it works

[known_coward_69]

this isnt a trial yet, its collecting evidence

Re: This is supposed to be how it works

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude the request was made on behalf of a guy living in HI. He is listed on the court documents as the chief partitioner meaning he has some type of a stake in the court filings.

Re: This is supposed to be how it works

[astrofurter]

"in the U.S. we have a Jury based judicial system"

Whoa-ho-ho hahahahahahahahahahahaha wee-hee hahahahahahahahahahahaha! Oh, that's rich! Tell me another one, Ernie, tell me another one!

Re:This is supposed to be how it works

[houghi]

Sure itr is. When you look at the fact that a man that bites a dog is news, the news story here is atht it happened as it should. The fact that that is news is scary.

Re: This is supposed to be how it works

[AmiMoJo]

Why use a court of Hawaii though? That sounds like abuse, selecting a venue presumably because it is favourable to the claimant.

Re: This is supposed to be how it works

[im_thatoneguy]

How dare Hawaiians file in Hawaii! Don't they know how inconvenient it is to fight a case in their state? /s

True, but copyright's supposed to be

[rsilvergun]

28 years. Yeah, yeah, I know, go get the law changed if I don't like it. That'd be great if I wasn't going up against multi-billion dollar corporations and a heavily rigged system of democracy...

Re:True, but copyright's supposed to be

[nasch]

It used to be 28 years (sort of). What it's supposed to be is a matter of opinion. I would say 28 years is too long.

GRAVIS MORON THE PLAINTIFF SUING IS HAWAIIAN

[Anonymous Coward]

SOTA is the plaintiff's name, he lives in Hawaii and the suit was filed on his behalf.

Ahh, Venice PI LLC

[viperidaenz]

The company that sued a dead man who suffered from dementia for apparently torrenting their movie.
https://www.techdirt.com/artic...

Why Hawaii? So people WANT to visit the court

[Anonymous Coward]

Why Hawaii? So people WANT to visit the court and work on the case!

That's also why the annual CFD conference is in Hawaii.

I'm not really interested in attending conferences in Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, LA, Dallas, Vegas, Seattle .... but Hawaii? I'm there!

Re:Alternatives

[Bert64]

Host in a country which doesn't care about these things, and then sign up to cloudflare from there...
They may be required to disclose who signed up and the address of the master site, but if all that points to a far away country which doesn't have copyright laws then the information won't do them any good.