Malibu Media v. John Doe in New York

This is a blog dedicated to updates on copyright infringement cases. We have handled more than 900 Malibu Media cases over the past seven years, helping each client figure out the best option for their individual situation. We can represent you in your case against Malibu Media. For more information about your subpoena visit our main website’s Malibu Media page.

Malibu Media LLC is a company that creates adult films and distributes them through the website x-art.com.

If you’ve received a subpoena, Malibu Media LLC is alleging you illegally downloaded their adult films, most likely using file-sharing software such as BitTorrent.

They are suing you for copyright infringement.

According to a Memorandum & Order by Judge Alison J. Nathan of the United States District Court, S.D. New York (and published on leagle.com):

Malibu Media LLC makes that content available to subscribers who pay either a monthly or annual fee. Such subscription fees constitute Plaintiffs primary source of revenue.  Plaintiff believes it suffers serious economic harm because many of its copyrighted works are made available, illegally, for free download via file sharing platforms, including an internet protocol called BitTorrent. 

As this Court explained in a factually similar case, BitTorrent software allows users to join together in “peer-to-peer” networks that allow them to download and make available for download large files). Individual users may only download small pieces of the file at a time, and it may take days for an individual to download an entire file. While downloading, the downloader is obligated to share with other users the portions of the file that he or she has already downloaded. This group of interacting users is referred to as a “swarm.” 

During the process of downloading these files, users expose their IP addresses to one another, which allows third parties to track and record the addresses participating in the illegal download. In this case, Plaintiff hired a German company, IPP International UG (“IPP”), to track IP addresses distributing and downloading Plaintiff’s copyrighted works. IPP used forensic software to scan BitTorrent file networks for the presence of transactions including Malibu’s copyright. After analyzing the results of this scan, IPP was able to determine that John Doe’s IP address had distributed pieces of Plaintiff’s copyrighted work.

At this time, Plaintiff is only able to identify John Doe with reference to his or her IP address. Once supplied with the date and time of the alleged infringement, ISPs are able to use their subscriber logs to identify the particular individual associated with the IP address. Accordingly, Plaintiff now seeks leave to serve Spectrum in order to ascertain the identity of the alleged infringer in this case.

… Specifically, Malibu seeks to serve a subpoena on Spectrum, an Internet Service Provider (“ISP”), in order to ascertain the identity of the John Doe defendant in this case, whose Internet Protocol (“IP”) address has been associated with large-scale infringement of Malibu’s copyrighted works. For the reasons below, the Plaintiffs motion is GRANTED.

Have you received a notice of a Malibu Media subpoena from your internet provider?

Your next step is deciding how you want to handle your subpoena. We are an experienced internet service provider subpoena defense specialist firm that has represented over 900 Malibu Media defendants.

We work with Malibu Media clients nationwide. Click here to schedule your free consultation, or call us: 312-201-8310.