Movie Studio Can’t Interrogate ‘Pirates’ Judge Rules

It would seem that common sense has prevailed in this case. What kind of judge would even consider allowing a plaintiff to interrogate potential defendants?

The makers of the Oscar-winning movie Dallas Buyers Club are continuing their crackdown on BitTorrent pirates. As part of this effort they have recently asked the court for permission to depose several suspects. However, the court has now denied this request, highlighting the "possibility of abuse."

Pretty sure disposing is the "protected" way of getting people to talk on record. I believe this happens frequently. The abuse the Judge refers to might be something along the lines of there being "john doe" identifications and the judge doesn't want to approve the plaintiff asking anyone/everyone they want about what is going on with their network if they have not named the person first.

But what do I know.

Az Syndicate said:

Pretty sure disposing is the "protected" way of getting people to talk on record. I believe this happens frequently. The abuse the Judge refers to might be something along the lines of there being "john doe" identifications and the judge doesn't want to approve the plaintiff asking anyone/everyone they want about what is going on with their network if they have not named the person first.

But what do I know.

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Probably. Depending the state rules, they could have used this to abuse subpoena power. I know here in NV, attorneys can issue the subpoena without the judge. Non-compliance with it would require the judge to issue a court order demand.

To clarify, a plaintiff has an absolute right to depose (take the deposition of) a defendant in a lawsuit. That is a critical part of the discovery process. The issue here is that the plaintiff wants to depose non-parties as potential defendants. While any party may depose a witness who the party reasonably believes has material evidence relevant to the case, a general witch hunt for non-named potential defendants is certainly not a right.