5
at *3-4 (N.D. Cal. July 22, 2013); AF Holdings, LLC vy.
Doe(s), No. 12-1445, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 187458, at *1012 (D. Minn. Nov. 6, 2013), vacated by AF Holdings, LLC v.
Doe, No.
12-1445, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS
43318
(D. Minn.
Mar. 27, 2014); see also Lightspeed Media Corp. v. Smith,
No. 12-889, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 168615, at *16 (S.D. IIL.
Nov.
27, 2013)
(“The[
principals
of Prenda]
have
shown
a
relentless willingness to lie to the Court on paper and in
person, despite being on notice that they were facing
sanctions in this Court, being sanctioned by other courts, and
being referred to state and federal bars, the United States
Attorney in at least two districts, one state Attorney General,
and the Internal
Revenue
Service.”
(internal
citations
omitted)).
Moving for leave to take immediate discovery, AF
Holdings then sought to serve subpoenas on the five Internet
service providers linked to the 1,058 IP addresses it had
identified: Cox Communications, Verizon, Comcast, AT&T,
and Bright House Networks. The district court granted the
motion, authorizing the issuance of subpoenas compelling
these providers to turn over the names,
addresses, telephone
numbers, and email addresses of the underlying subscribers.
The providers refused to comply. Invoking Federal Rule
of Civil Procedure 45(d)(3)(A), which provides that a district
court “must quash or modify a subpoena that. . . subjects a
person to undue burden,” they asserted that the administrative
expense involved was necessarily an “undue burden” because
AF Holdings had failed to establish that the court would have
personal jurisdiction over the defendants or that venue would
lie in this district. Supporting these contentions, Verizon
asserted that its preliminary investigation revealed that only
20 of the 188 Verizon subscribers whose information AF
Holdings sought resided in the District of Columbia. Comcast