A funny little holding in the Digiprotect USA Corporation v. Does 1-266 case in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York (Case No. 1:10-cv-08759-TPG) slipped through the cracks unnoticed.
On 4/13/2011, Hon. Thomas Griesa, the Judge for one of the two main Digiprotect cases awarded Comcast and Time Warner Cable $45 per IP address lookup for defendants sued outside the jurisdiction of the court.
The court further held that “[g]iven the obvious concern of most ISPs and the common nature of issues involved, this decision, as it relates to personal jurisdiction, will apply not only to Comcast and TWC, but to all the ISPs listed in Exhibit B.” (emphasis added).
In other words, the court has in effect said, “DO NOT SUE PEOPLE WHO DO NOT LIVE IN NEW YORK IN OUR NEW YORK COURTS!”
This ‘stick’ approach slapping the wrists of the Digiprotect plaintiffs should serve as a warning to all other plaintiff attorneys who are sending subpoenas to ISPs for defendants located out of their court’s jurisdiction.