Last Updated on July 18, 2026 by Rob Cashman
My ISP received a subpoena from Strike 3 Holdings LLC. I do NOT want to settle with Strike 3 Holdings!
Rob Cashman, a copyright defense attorney says,
“Yes, IGNORING the subpoena CAN be a viable copyright infringement defense strategy to a Strike 3 Holdings lawsuit.
But, be aware of 1) THREE (3) RISKS when you ignore a Strike Three Holdings lawsuit (just in case), and 2) OTHER Strike 3 Holdings defense lawyer tactics (settlement factories).
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So, let’s check to see if you are here for the right reasons.
- You were sued by Strike 3 Holdings in a John Doe lawsuit, and you don’t know if you should hire a lawyer and get legal representation.
- You probably already know THEY DON’T YET KNOW who you are [Strike 3 Holdings typically obtains your personal information by sending a subpoena to your ISP].
- You probably don’t like Strike 3 Holdings because they are threatening to ruin your reputation and your pocket book. You don’t want to settle your case, and you don’t want to go to court to defend yourself.
- You received a subpoena notice telling you that that you have been implicated as “John Doe Defendant” in a federal copyright infringement lawsuit [and you learn that you can’t fight the subpoena (because your ISP will release your information to Strike 3’s attorneys even if you do)].
- You want to know whether you can ignore this or not.
CONCLUSION: IGNORING a Strike 3 Holdings subpoena can be a viable strategy.
You are probably surprised that I am telling you that you CAN ignore the letter that you received from your ISP, and there are even circumstances where you SHOULD ignore it. The best way to decide is to have someone like me help you analyze your risk of ignoring the lawsuit.
You also need to be PREPARED for the possibility of being wrong — ignoring your subpoena and receiving a summons means [by definition] that you are NAMED AND SERVED as a defendant — this means you are thrown into litigation (you must know what to do then).
Years ago, our Cashman Law Firm, PLLC used to offer clients an “ignore route.” The idea was that previous copyright holders couldn’t name everybody. Today’s Strike 3 Holdings LLC cases are different, but the strategy can still be a viable strategy, depending on your circumstances.
I have defended hundreds (perhaps thousands) of our clients since 2010, and most of them were just like you — I assume you are here because you received a letter from your internet service provider (ISP) which implicated you as a John Doe Defendant in a federal copyright infringement lawsuit. This lawsuit was filed by a copyright holder (usually, a movie company, or an adult film company called Strike 3 Holdings LLC who produced one or more pornographic films) and they are looking to monetize their copyrights by suing you — the internet user — who probably clicked on a link and downloaded their movie.
I can probably guess that the letter you received included a page with an ISP subpoena [that they themselves received]. This document demands that THEY (the ISP) turn over to the copyright holder the name and address of the account holder who was assigned a particular IP address on a particular date and time.
With the TENS OF THOUSANDS of internet users they have sued over years, until recently, most of the accused internet users were never even named and served as a defendant.
So as you can see, I have authority and expertise to write this article because:
1) I have defended clients against these copyright holders across the US for many years (you can see what we at the Cashman Law Firm, PLLC have been up to since 2010),
2) I know their tactics and their strategies (see here to understand why),
3) I really care about YOU (why I will still speak to you and help you, whether or not you become a client),
4) I am able to analyze the RISK in helping you to decide whether to:
- ignore the ISP subpoena,
- proactively litigate the claims against you,
- settle the claims against you,
- be a fly on the wall, and ‘wait and see’ (the ‘fly on the wall’ approach is the “Strike 3 Holdings Ignore Route” I am discussing in this article),
- or, whether some alternative ‘non-legal’ strategy might solve your problem.
So, let’s get to the reason you are here. Can you ignore this or not?
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Can you ignore Strike 3 Holdings LLC and the subpoena their attorney sent to your ISP (not to you, the John Doe potential defendant) as a defense strategy?
Really, yes. You CAN ignore the subpoena because it was not sent to you; it was sent to your internet service provider, demanding that THEY share the name and address of the person who was assigned a particular IP address on a particular date and time.
The lawsuit was not filed against you.
Remember, the lawsuit was against a John Doe subscriber assigned IP address …
A “John Doe” is a placeholder to be replaced by a real person to be sued at a later date. You only become a defendant once they have done their research on who actually did the downloading of their client’s films, and they have concluded that you are the correct person to be named as a defendant and served with a subpoena.
Yes, you are the ISP account subscriber. But, even though the person who they sued sounds like it is you, it is still a ‘legal term of art’. A John Doe subscriber is still a PLACEHOLDER to be replaced at some future date.
And yes, you were assigned an IP address. You must assume that Comcast (or Verizon, CenturyLink, or whoever) is sending you this letter, that they did assign you this IP address on the date and time the downloading happened. Otherwise you would not yet have received the letter from your ISP.
The John Doe subscriber is NOT YOU. It is a legal entity that is a PLACEHOLDER which could become you (or anyone else) at some point in the future.
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The subpoena was not sent to you.
The Strike 3 Holdings subpoena that the ISP’s legal team shared with you was not sent to you; it was sent to them.
THEY are under a duty to comply with the subpoena because in the underlying copyright infringement case, the judge ordered them to comply, and to provide their lawyer the name and address of the account subscriber who was assigned that IP address on that particular date and time.
Complying with the THOUSANDS of subpoenas that they receive each day for every company that decided to file a lawsuit costs them A LOT OF MONEY. [I remember when years ago, Comcast had to open up an office in Morristown, NJ and fully staff it just for the sole purpose of ‘keeping up’ with the thousands of subpoenas and lawsuits that were sent to them.]
The ISPs don’t like to comply with these because complying for them takes TIME AND MONEY. [I remember that there was even a point that Comcast’s attorney fought in the courts to be able to charge the copyright holders money for each IP address look-up in complying with the subpoenas. They won, and I believe at the time, the court ruled that Comcast could charge them $50/IP address lookup. Shortly, afterwards, AT&T started charging $200-$400/IP address lookup.]
So because 1) the ISPs do not want to comply, and because 2) they actually have a duty that you must receive a notice if they are going to share your account information [or they themselves can be sued by you], they send you a notice of the subpoena to let you know that THEY have received a Strike 3 Holdings subpoena. In that letter, they typically tell you that unless YOU file a motion with the court opposing what they have been ordered to do, then THEY are under a duty to comply with the judge’s order and share your information.
On the topic of whether to file anything with the court [since you are not a defendant yet], I have written an article in depth on the topic. [This really isn’t the place for going into the topic more than I already have, but really, the question of WHO should be filing the motion to quash is not you (the account holder), but the ISP. They just ‘punt’ the issue to you in a lazy way, which makes me shake my head in disgust. And, after all these years, they are still not protecting the rights of their subscribers.]
Bottom line, the subpoena wasn’t even sent to you. It was sent to your ISP, and they are the proper party to file a motion to quash the subpoenas sent to THEM in the thousands of Strike 3 Holdings’ “John Doe subscriber” litigation cases. But now they make money from each case filed, so they really don’t have an interest in filing anything (they probably don’t want you to file one yourself either).
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Why you can IGNORE a Strike 3 subpoena (even though it references your IP address).
As you now have read, Strike 3 Holding’s lawsuits are against a“John Doe Subscriber assigned IP address…” This is not you, so you have no obligation to do anything yet. Strike 3’s subpoenas are also sent to the ISP, forcing THEM to comply with it. You were not the person the subpoena was sent to, so you have absolutely NO DUTY to file anything with the court (and you probably wouldn’t even win if you did, because you are not yet a defendant — a party “with standing” to contest the subpoena in the lawsuit).
So these are reasons you CAN ignore the subpoena notification from your ISP. But should you?
[I know that a lot of attorneys try to scare you at this point, telling you that these lawsuits are potentially serious, and that you should never ignore your Strike 3 Holdings LLC v. John Doe subpoena. But really, when they scream, “don’t ignore!”, all they really want is to scare you so that you will settle with Strike 3 Holdings, because they make no money if you ignored the subpoena and as a result, you didn’t pay them too.]
But let’s look at whether you SHOULD ignore the subpoena notice from your ISP.
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SHOULD ignoring be your entire copyright infringement defense? [a free consultation on how to handle a Strike 3 Holdings lawsuit *BASED ON YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES* is a GOOD thing to do at this point.]
Ignoring a subpoena is risky, but POSSIBLE. BEFORE choosing this option, we need to look at your circumstances, and CONFIRM that other mainstream approaches would not be easier on you (and your pocket book).
OTHER MAINSTREAM DEFENSE OPTIONS: FIGHT (LITIGATION), SETTLE (MONEY)
1) Can I successfully fight Strike 3 Holdings by simply cooperating with their requests?
The easiest defense against Strike 3 Holdings is sometimes the truth. If you did not do the downloading, and you are willing to give them testimony that any infringing activity they may have seen was not done by you, then just following the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and cooperating with the federal court’s process of ascertaining guilt could be the easiest and least expensive approach any experienced defense attorney could give you for a federal lawsuit like this one.
Strike 3 uses your own fears and your own guilt to force you into settling your case. If you did not do the downloading, then a settlement (agreeing to pay Strike 3 Holdings thousands of dollars in return for them dismissing you from the case) is a fool’s bargain. Why? If you could achieve the same outcome by providing the information to Strike 3 that you are not the downloader they are looking for, then why even consider settling a Strike 3 case?
In sum, if “the truth shall set you free,” then you can successfully engage in litigation and achieve a dismissal by simply cooperating with their requests. Fighting (litigation) does not need to be a hostile act; it can be an amicable pathway that is available to you if you are a client of our law firm.
But, if the idea of Strike 3 Holdings requesting you to answer questions under oath puts the fear of heaven in you (because you actually did the downloading), and you aren’t able to settle (contact us or call us because sometimes you CAN still settle even if you don’t have the money they will be asking for), then yes, maybe you might want to ignore the lawsuit.
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2) CAN I actually settle with Strike 3 Holdings (can I afford to pay)?
Just to be clear, if you did not do the downloading, then you should NOT be settling.
That being said, if you actually did do the downloading of their adult films, then you cannot successfully fight them by just cooperating with their requests (as I outlined above). The reason for this is that in the process of their litigation against you, you would end up giving them testimony that it was indeed you who did the downloading. This is what would cause you to lose the case and obtain a default judgement against you.
Thus, it is here where I would recommend to a potential client that he considers paying them in return for them releasing him from the lawsuit. This is called a settlement.
If you know that you would not survive being named and served, and you can settle the claims against you, then ignoring the lawsuit is a bad idea. The reason for this (and I will detail this in more depth in a later article; for the moment, I’ll put the link to Jackie James’ Massachusetts cases where she named and served many internet users who didn’t settle when they could have as a John Doe) is that Strike 3 Holdings NOW asks for extremely inflated settlement amounts once negotiating a settlement for a client who is now named-and-served as a defendant.
The time to settle is when that person is still a John Doe Defendant. It is not the time to settle once he is named and served. The settlement will end up being grossly more expensive. [Again, I am an attorney, not a magician, but I have been able to ‘pull a rabbit out of a hat’ when negotiating settlements, EVEN AFTER my client was named and served.]
You should also know that what they ask for in a settlement vs. what you end up paying is often very different. If my client cannot afford the settlement numbers asked of him, we will often negotiate a settlement based on a steep discount (which is determined based on how much he can actually pay).
But returning to the question here, if [after speaking to me] you determine that there is absolutely no way to pay a settlement, then again, yes, it makes sense to ignore the subpoena. You really don’t have much of a choice at this point.
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So, when SHOULD you ignore the subpoena?
When you have done the downloading of their copyrighted titles, and you would end up giving testimony causing you to lose the case if you were named and served in the lawsuit. In a situation such as this one, you don’t have much of a choice but to settle the claims against you now, while you are still a John Doe in the lawsuit.
But if [after speaking to an attorney] you realize that there is still no way for you to pay a settlement — even if the attorney negotiates the settlement to be based on the ‘pennies’ you have in your account, versus the ‘tens of thousands of dollars’ they might ask for (again, we have done this for our clients!) — then your only viable option at this point is to ignore the subpoena.
[SEE THE DISCLAIMER SECTION BEFORE DECIDING TO IGNORE!]
I REALLY NEED TO PUT A DISCLAIMER HERE – PAY CLOSE ATTENTION!
DISCLAIMER: This is Rob Cashman writing this article (I write all the articles, but I want you to have an attorney’s name associated with this article.) I am not giving you legal advice to ignore the subpoena in this blog article. I am outlining factors you should consider when deciding whether to ignore or not.
NO DECISION on whether to ignore should be made alone without the consultation with an experienced attorney.
I (Rob Cashman, owner of the Cashman Law Firm, PLLC) give free consultations many times each day, each week to people I know will never become a client. I do this to help people understand their options, because as an attorney, I have in my toolkit KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE, AND OPTIONS that we are aware will work that you might not be aware of.
There is a reason why I have expertise in this area, and why you should rely on me. 1) You might not be an attorney yourself, or 2) even if you are an attorney, you might not have dealt with Strike 3 Holdings, LLC — either from the point of guilt or non-guilt, evidence, settlement numbers they will agree to, or from simply knowing the proclivities of each of their attorneys — who will name and serve, who will not.
So only make a decision to ignore once you have reviewed your circumstances with a competent attorney like myself (or any other competent attorney) who has this toolset of KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE, AND OPTIONS.
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PERHAPS EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY if you do not settle with Strike 3 Holdings and instead, you IGNORE THE LAWSUIT altogether.
When you ignore the subpoena, and you decide not to hire an attorney, you do this with the hope and prayer that perhaps Strike Three Holdings will not do anything else after getting your personal information.
- Perhaps when the ISP shares your name and address, you pray that they will decide NOT to name and serve you.
- Perhaps this attorney will have named and served other defendants, and in the interest of choosing who to name and serve, they will decide not to name and serve you.
- Or, maybe you believe that you have a justified reason not to have any interactions with them. For example, perhaps you live in a building, and it is not clear who actually did the downloading. Or, perhaps you share the internet with multiple people and your name is not on the bill (not nice). Or, perhaps the ISP does not know who you are, e.g., because the subpoena to your internet account did not have your correct account information on it, or because the plaintiff wouldn’t try to find you once they learn who you are (e.g., if you no longer live in the United States, etc.).
There are many reasons why a person would choose to ignore a subpoena and a lawsuit such as this one, and I have spoken to hundreds (maybe thousands) of people who did not become a client of our Cashman Law Firm, PLLC… either because I told them that they didn’t need to make me [or anyone else] their attorney based on their particular circumstances, or because they didn’t have any other chance but to ignore the claims against them.
What are the THREE RISKS of ignoring Strike 3 Holdings’ lawsuit or the ISP subpoena?
There are THREE primary risks that you need to be aware of when deciding to ignore a Strike 3 Holdings ISP subpoena:
RISK #1) You could be wrong, and Strike 3 may name and serve you (based on the statute of limitations applied to IP law, at any point within 3 years from the date of the infringement).
If you ignore and you are wrong, then you can be NAMED AND SERVED (even after the first lawsuit is dismissed).
Being NAMED AND SERVED means that you are pushed into litigation whether you want to be there or not. You simply cannot decline being named and served, because if you fail to file an answer with the court once named and served (and you do not otherwise resolve the claims against you, e.g. by settling the claims with them and paying a settlement), then you are put IN DEFAULT. This means essentially that you lost the lawsuit.
[And yes, we know you can still settle the claims against you — even if this happens after you are NAMED AND SERVED, but the settlement becomes significantly more costly, more expensive, and more difficult to achieve.]
Bottom line, the FIRST RISK of ignoring the lawsuit is that you could be wrong, and you’ll end up NAMED AND SERVED.
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YOU CAN BE NAMED AND SERVED MANY MONTHS AFTER YOUR CASE REMAINS DORMANT AND THEY NEVER CONTACT YOU.
Even if Strike 3 Holdings stays silent during the entire lawsuit, and they do not ever contact you after they receive your personal information from your internet service provider, their silence should be interpreted as danger, not relief.
Typically, I have observed Jackie James, Jessica Fernandez, and other Strike 3 attorneys sit on a case for months and months, only to name and serve defendants far after they thought they were out of trouble. I have even observed that Strike 3 Holdings now typically names and serves defendants who don’t settle simply as a tactic to force them to settle or face litigation in court [and the loss of their case].
Strike 3 already paid for the lawsuit (~$400+), so why not name and serve everyone? It costs them almost nothing to do this, so now they’re doing it.
And, after they name and serve you — which they now do for cases after many months pass — they no longer ask for $750/title multiplied by the number of titles they claim that you allegedly downloaded ($750/title x number of titles).
Instead, after they name and serve you, they ask for $2,250/title multiplies by the number of titles they claim that you allegedly downloaded ($2,250/title x number of titles).
Negotiating down from $2,250/title is significantly more difficult than negotiating down from $750/title because in any negotiation, their strategy is to always say, “we gave you the opportunity to settle for $750/title, and you ignored us. Now you are facing litigation and a $150,000 judgement, so a $750/title settlement is no longer on the table.” I am saying this from personal experience in representing our our clients who ignored the lawsuit and were named-and-served before they retained me as their attorney (this article when they started doing this is from August, 2024, and now we are in 2026).
[FYI, I have been successful in negotiating down even from $2,250/title with Strike 3 Holdings directly. But even if [for some reason] they were not cooperating, INDIRECTLY, it is still possible and easy to return to the $750/title original settlement numbers. And this can be done by going directly to the court.]
YOU CAN STILL BE NAMED AND SERVED AFTER YOUR LAWSUIT IS DISMISSED.
Even if your first lawsuit is dismissed, you can still be named and served in a subsequent lawsuit.
This is because any dismissal is considered “without prejudice” (which is a legal term that means that they are PERMITTED to sue you again for the same thing). As long as they are within the statute of limitations, they can ask the court to re-open the original lawsuit and name and serve you there, or they can file a second lawsuit and name and serve you there.
The statute of limitations for copyright infringement lawsuits is 3 years from the last alleged date of infringement. This means that if in January, 2026 you were last observed downloading their adult films [and they sued you in March, 2026 and dismissed your John Doe entity 6 months later in September, 2026], they have ALL THE WAY UNTIL JANUARY, 2029 to either ask the court to re-open the original case or re-file the lawsuit.
RISK #2) You might lose out on some legal defenses, litigation strategies, or settlement options.
If you ignore the lawsuit and are named-and-served, you might have lost some of the legal defenses, strategies, or settlement options that would have been available to you had you spoken to an attorney and handled the lawsuit while you were still a John Doe Defendant.
RISK #3) You might end up having irrevocable damage by having your identity exposed.
If you ignore the lawsuit and are named-and-served, this means that the plaintiff’s attorney replaced the John Doe placeholder with your real name. This means that your name is now permanently associated with being a defendant accused of downloading pornography, even if you did not do this.
If you have security clearance (for example, if you are one of our finest who are serving in the military, the army, the navy, the airforce, or any other role in protecting the United States against our enemies), being named-and-served in a lawsuit means that you are now a defendant in a lawsuit, which will quite often result in the automatic loss of your security clearance, and by definition, your job, your income, and your livelihood.
If you are concerned that your identity might become public, then you should speak to an attorney while you are still anonymous, meaning, while you are still a John Doe Defendant in your lawsuit. That way, you and your attorney can decide whether to proactively file an answer with the court, where we would ask the court for a protective order (which would seal the case and prevent your name from being exposed to the public), or whether we could implement some other strategy to protect your identity from becoming public before this happens.
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I invite you to contact us at the Cashman Law Firm, PLLC to walk you through this analysis, and to plan your Strike 3 Holdings defense strategy.
This would be based on YOUR circumstances.
I do not charge for this.
I’ll even help you with this, even if you do not retain me as your lawyer (I never charge or benefit from referrals).
Call us (or better, contact us via our website).
I will speak to you about the following topics:
– What are the risks and rewards of ignoring your copyright infringement case ;
– Whether to file a motion to quash ;
– Whether you can successfully fight Strike 3 Holdings (what your litigation options are) ;
– Whether settling a Strike 3 holdings case is to your benefit (and whether you can achieve the same or similar outcome without a settlement).
Have you read enough? Book Now to get help. > >
SUMMARY: Deciding whether to ignore Strike 3 cases (or not) is a detailed Risk Analysis.
SUMMARY: Whether to ignore a Strike 3 Holdings ISP Subpoena is a detail-oriented risk analysis, which you should not do alone. I wrote this article to help you hash out some of the items that you and I would discuss on one of our Cashman Law Firm, PLLC’s free consultations, but you should still reach out to me because I might have thought about something you missed.
—
FOR MORE INFORMATION: If you have been implicated as a John Doe defendant in a lawsuit, 1. and 2. (below) are the TWO (2) main articles you should read immediately:
- “ISP Subpoena Notification Received – WALKTHROUGH.”
– IF you were Named and Served – READ THIS WALKTHROUGH. - “JUST THE FACTS.”
- “Everything You Need To Know in One Page About Your Lawsuit [FAQ]”
- “In-Depth. Their Lawsuits, Their Strategies, and Their Settlements”
FOR IMMEDIATE CONTACT WITH AN ATTORNEY: To set up a free consultation to speak to an attorney about your lawsuit, click here. Lastly, please feel free to e-mail me at info[at] cashmanlawfirm.com, or call 713-364-3476 to speak to me now about your case (I do prefer you read the articles first), or to get your questions answered.
CONTACT FORM: If you have a question or comment about what I have written, and you want to keep it *for my eyes only*, please feel free to use the form below. The information you post will be e-mailed to me, and I will be happy to respond.
NOTE: No attorney client relationship is established by sending this form. The attorney-client privilege (which keeps everything that you share confidential and private) attaches immediately when you contact me. However, I do not become your attorney until we sign a contract together. That being said, please do not state anything “incriminating” about your case when using this form, or in any e-mail.
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