Last Updated on July 18, 2026 by Rob Cashman
I have added this page for internet users who have become entangled in the Strike 3 Holdings LLC movie lawsuit cases.
My goal in writing this article is to help you to handle a Strike 3 Holdings court summons, subpoena or lawsuit. I hope to teach you give you some kind of Strike 3 Holdings lawsuit defense, and to discuss our experiences in defending against (containing) their various cases.
Should you learn of any updates regarding one of their cases, or you hear that a subpoena has been issued to an ISP, please post it here using the following format — (e.g., “Strike 3 Holdings LLC v. John Doe subscriber assigned IP Address 128.48.12.221 (Case No. 1:26-cv-12345) filed by Paul Beik in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas”). Please also feel free to post new cases you find them listed as the plaintiff.
Strike 3 Holdings LLC v. Does Lawsuits
This company has filed thousands of federal copyright infringement lawsuits across the US. Strike 3’s evidence is that they observed the “John Doe” defendant downloading their pornographic films.
Months or YEARS before you even know about Strike 3 Holdings or their lawsuits, Strike 3 detects an IP address which they say connected to a bittorrent swarm — it was this group of IP addresses which participated in the illegal uploading, download, and/or streaming of the adult movie titles produced under their Blacked, Vixen, Deeper, etc. brands. Strike 3 sues in Federal Courts, and each filing is against ONE DEFENDANT, and asks for statutory damages of $150,000.
Accused internet users are made aware of these cases when receive a Strike 3 Holdings ISP subpoena (e.g., from CenturyLink, Comcast, Hawaii Telecom, Verizon Fios, Time Warner Cable, etc.), which informs them 1) they are implicated as a “John Doe” Defendant in this case, and 2) the ISP is bound by an order signed by the federal judge to share the account holder’s contact information (and relevant information about their IP address’ involvement in the case) on a certain due date unless the subscriber files an objection or a motion to quash the subpoena with the court (referring to a “motion to quash“).
Because Strike 3 Holdings files these lawsuits without knowing the name and address of the accused defendant, it requests a subpoena and asks the court for permission to subpoena the ISP to reveal the personal information (name, address, etc.) of the alleged downloader. Typically, the court grants Strike 3 their request and gives them permission to subpoena your ISP.
When ISPs receive a subpoena, they inform you (their customer) that Strike 3 has filed a lawsuit against you. The subpoena from your ISP is not requiring anything from you because you are not the target of the subpoena — it is sent to the ISP asking IT to share your information with them. What you receive is an ISP notice which informs you that:
- You’ve received an ISP subpoena (again, really THEY have received the subpoena referencing YOUR account),
- You have a few legal options to protect your privacy (referencing a motion to quash, which really is not a viable option as they describe) and that you can challenge the lawsuit (in the form of deciding to go to court and assert a copyright defense in litigation).
- They also inform you that the results of ignoring the lawsuit are potentially serious, and could result in Strike 3 deciding to amend the lawsuit to name you directly as a defendant. They also share that if you continue to ignore the lawsuit (once named and served), you could receive a default judgement against you (which means that you lost the lawsuit without fighting).
When you look up your Strike 3 Holdings case online (after receiving the notice from your ISP), most attorneys who advertise a “Strike 3 Holdings defense” really are just settlement factories who try to convince you to hire them to settle with Strike 3 directly rather than “fighting it out in court.” But many Strike 3 cases are not that complicated to litigate (Strike 3 uses the same cookie-cutter pleadings in each of their cases, often lacking evidence that the accused “John Doe” defendant downloaded any of their titles), and a settlement is often NOT NECESSARY.
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Remember to please exercise discretion when posting (e.g., do not post your real name or e-mail address), and as usual, avoid using vulgar or offensive language (both towards the plaintiff and towards other users).
[CONTACT AN ATTORNEY: If you have a question for an attorney about your case and options on how to proceed, you can e-mail us at info[at]cashmanlawfirm.com, you can set up a free and confidential phone consultation to speak to us about your case, or you can call us at 713-364-3476 (this is our Cashman Law Firm, PLLC’s number].
RECENT CASE HISTORY OF FILINGS (as of DECEMBER, 2025):
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BLOG POSTS:
TorrentLawyer Blog Article(s) Written on their cases:
SETTLEMENTS
- “Anonymous Settlements, Buyer Beware.” — 08/2024
- “New ‘When to Settle’ Settlement Article on Cashman Law Firm” — 05/2023
- “Secret Methods in Analyzing Strike 3 Holdings Settlements.” — 08/2020
MOTIONS TO QUASH
STRIKE 3 HOLDINGS ATTORNEYS (THE ONES WHO SUED YOU)
- “Strike 3 Holdings Attorneys and their personalities.” — 08/2020
- “Miami-Dade Lawsuits Have a Secret Attorney” — 01/2020
- “Who Runs Strike 3 Holdings – Lincoln Bandlow or John Atkin?” — 05/2019
NAMED AND SERVED
THE ROLE OF JUDGES AND ISPs AS GATEKEEPERS
- “Why Federal Judges & ISPs Can Stop These Lawsuits” — 06/2023
- “Another brief “Lawsuits” article.” This article references the influence of Reddit on how people see the lawsuits. — 06/2023
- “Their Dirty Secret is they know your identity.” — 01/2021
- Related: “VIXEN – Not to be confused with a rock band, clothing line.” — 09/2020
- “Miami-Dade cases are to reveal the ISP subscriber.” — 08/2020
- “Did They Just SUE SOMEONE CALLED “John Doe Infringer”?” — 02/2020
- “Will Miami-Dade Defendants Who Do Not Settle In Federal Court?” — 02/2020
- “How similar are Strike 3 Holdings and Malibu Media lawsuits?” — 11/2017
ARTICLES FROM OUR CASHMAN LAW FIRM, PLLC WEBSITE:
NOTE: We were banned from Bing.com Search Engines in 2022, so we posted many additional articles regarding this plaintiff on our Cashman Law Firm PLLC website:
- “Suing a Few Good Men | Ohio Lawsuits” — 06/2023
- “A Brief Overview of Their Lawsuits” — 06/2023, updated 09/2024
- “Expansion Strategy into Obscure Courts” — 05/2023
- “NEGOTIATION: Strike 3 Holdings Settlement Costs” — 05/2023
- “What No One Tells You About Your Strike 3 Holdings ISP Subpoena (Unpublished)” — 04/2023
- “LAWSUITS BY STATE (03-2023)” — 03/2023
- “The Secret Why These Lawsuits Will Never End.” — 02/2023
- “LIST OF CASES BY STATE (03-2022)” — 03/2022
- “Hidden Reasons for Miami-Dade Lawsuits” — 02/2022
- “How they use an “EXHIBIT A” spreadsheet and your IP Address history to prove their claims of infringement.” — 02/2022
- “Dirty Secret about 2021 Federal Filings.” — 01/2022
- “LIST OF CASES BY STATE (JAN. 2022)” — 01/2022
- “STRIKE 3 HOLDINGS LAWSUITS – JUST THE FACTS.” — 08/2020
- “LIST OF CASES BY STATE (AUGUST 2020)” — 08/2020
- “List Of Cases By State (July 2020)” — 07/2020
- “NAMED AND SERVED IN A FEDERAL COURT” — 03/2020
- “LIST OF CASES BY STATE (01-2020)” — 01/2020
- “LIST OF LAWSUITS BY STATE (04-2019)” — 04/2019
- “LIST OF CASES BY STATE (03-2019)” — 03/2019
- “LIST OF CASES BY STATE (02-2019)” — 02/2019
- “John Doe Subpoena Lawsuit FAQ” — 11/2017
HOW AN ATTORNEY SHOULD REPRESENT A STRIKE 3 SUBPOENA CLIENT:
Because IP address-based copyright infringement cases appear to be similar, I thought it would be beneficial to take a few moments and simplify the process. That way, when you pay an attorney, you will know exactly what the attorney will be doing. (Look here for an article on when to hire an attorney, and at what point it becomes too late to hire an attorney.)
Here are the steps your attorney (us, or anyone else) should be taking on your behalf.
STEP 1) STOP PLAINTIFF FROM CONTACTING YOU OR ANYONE ELSE ON YOUR BEHALF (WORKPLACE) ABOUT THE CLAIMS AGAINST YOU.
Once your plaintiff attorney learns that you are represented by an attorney, all communication must be with that attorney alone. Phone calls or letters to client directly once a notice of representation is provided can jeopardize that attorney’s law license.
STEP 2) RESEARCH AND DISCUSS CLAIMS COMPARING PLAINTIFF ATTORNEY’S DATA OF USE VERSUS ACTUAL USE OR NON-USE.
Strike 3’s copyright holders appear to be researching the claims and linking the accused IP addresses to determine whether that accused internet account holder been involved in the download of other copyrighted films. They appear to be watching the activity of the IP address (specifically, before and after the date the ISP sends the subpoena notice to the account holders) to see if there is a change in the downloading activity of the accused subscriber.
It is important to share truthful information with your defense attorney so that claims against you can be disputed with facts and dates. The plaintiff attorneys have data that they rely on, but their reliance on that data is based on a STORY which may or may not have an alternative explanation. Obviously, your attorney should have the common sense to discuss the claims in order to refute their story without admitting guilt on your behalf.
STEP 3) DISCUSS AND NEGOTIATE SETTLEMENT OPTIONS WITH PLAINTIFF ATTORNEY, WHETHER BY PAYING A FEE OR NOT (IF NOT, PROCEED WITH LITIGATION STRATEGIES).
Normally the plaintiff attorneys in an IP address-based “copyright troll” do not approach an accused ISP account holder asking for money regardless of guilt or wrongdoing (judges don’t like it when they do this). Unfortunately, because every case filed by Strike 3 Holdings LLC has become a “will they settle / won’t they settle” question for the copyright holder (this is WHY they filed the lawsuit), every case for them is a potential settlement.
So understanding Strike 3 Holdings LLC and their unstated goal could help you avoid a potential nightmare scenario where 1) you did the downloading, and/or 2) where you want to avoid litigation.
PAST LITIGATION STRATEGIES TO AVOID (BECAUSE THEY NO LONGER WORK).
[Historically, there were strategies we employed and wrote about which were relevant and useful at the time. I am mentioning them here because you will come across them in my articles, and because some attorneys might still offer these to you. THIS IS A TRAP. Each of these strategies used to work at one point, but are no longer relevant and they should be avoided at all costs.
But once a settlement factory lures you in with a “good sounding legal argument,” (referencing one of these strategies) and you hire these attorneys thinking they’ll succeed, but then that argument fails, these attorneys always jump to the “YOU MUST SETTLE, OR ELSE” FEAR TACTIC (which was their plan all alone). Thus, if someone presents any of these strategies to you, find another attorney.
I also want to point out that these strategies were our OWN strategies that we came up with and used for our own clients. Thus, I am sharing this based on my own experience because these were once good strategies.
STRATEGY #1: The “no settlement” letter option [at the time] was a good attempt at handling the scenario where the client did not do the download, or where the plaintiff attorney was unwilling to come to an amicable arrangement. We would provide a low-cost option to clients and write a letter on their behalf stating that 1) they did not do the download, and 2) they would not settle. The result was that the attorneys continued to engage us in questions and answers, and settlement negotiations which is not what the client wanted. They knew we couldn’t just write a letter and then abandon the client, and this is why this strategy failed.
STRATEGY #2: Arguing the facts of the case, namely that they only have what is called “snapshot evidence” (which is not proof that the entire copyrighted title was downloaded, but merely that you were “in the room,” or connecting to an online “swarm” where users were uploading and downloading copies of that same file as you were accused of downloading. Even if you too were downloading it, there is no evidence that you downloaded the entire copyrighted film).
In general, arguing the facts of the case when you are not in litigation is a bad idea.
STRATEGY #3: Arguing that the the plaintiff does not have the PCAP file. The PCAP file (which can prove or disprove whether actual infringement happened) is almost never present in these cases. However, even if they have ZERO EVIDENCE that you downloaded anything, it is still YOUR OWN TESTIMONY (e.g., in a deposition or in an interrogatory) which can provide them the evidence they need to prove that you were the one who downloaded their copyrighted titles.]
Returning to the topic of the negotiation itself, if neither side can agree on an early solution to the problem, then yes, it makes sense to proceed to allow the plaintiff attorney to name and serve your client, file an answer with the court, and proceed with defending your client’s interests in the courtroom.
STEP 4) NEGOTIATE PRICE (IF BENEFICIAL, CONSIDERING CLIENT’S ABILITY TO PAY). PROVIDE DOCUMENTATION OR STATEMENT IF NECESSARY TO SUBSTANTIATE CLAIMS.
Many accused defendants downloaded the copyrighted movie not realizing that such activity was unlawful. This is because there are websites (e.g., The Pirate Bay) which, on their face, appear to be innocuous. However, unbeknownst to the end user, The [SOMETHING] Bay shares a IP address tracked file with the end user’s “sharing via IP address” software. It through the download of the unlicensed uploaded videos included in the tracked file that the account holder gets ‘caught’ downloading the video, because his/her real IP address is exposed as the file sharing software joins the user to one or more online swarms in order to acquire the video.
Unfortunately, it is not always known whether a video source is legitimate or not. For example, the videos presented on The Pirate Bay (as the name describes) are usually pirated, and downloading the videos or viewing the videos can get the end user sued. Contrast this with other movie sources, e.g., Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, etc., which are legitimate. However, there are many “in between” websites which appear to be legitimate, but may not be.
Regardless of the intention of how the adult film was acquired, downloaded, or viewed, this is our goal — to have the circumstances of the accused defendant be relevant and useful in a negotiation to arrive at a price the client can afford.
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STEP 4A) IF ATTORNEY IS UNCOOPERATIVE, CONSIDER ARGUING FOR MINIMUM STATUTORY DAMAGES
Obviously this is not a preferred outcome, but it still must be considered. If an attorney is unwilling to negotiate a fair settlement amount (or if we believe he or she is being unreasonable with our office in the negotiations, e.g., if he opens the negotiations asking for too much money, or he requires that the client take some action outside negotiating a cash payment in return for a dismissal of their so-called “John Doe” entity), there is another alternative strategy. You can have us (or have your attorney) file an answer on your behalf, admit guilt to the claims against them, and and make appeals to the court for what are called “minimum statutory damages” of $750 plus the other side’s attorney fees (which at this point would be minimal). While not a preferred alternative, it is a method of forcing a reasonable payment to the plaintiff attorney if the download actually occurred.
STEP 5) NEGOTIATE TERMS OF SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT.
The release of liability agreement should be specific to the claims in your lawsuit, and they should include the nuances of contract law in order to ensure the agreement is enforceable. The terms should not ‘admit guilt’ on behalf of the client, and the scope of the contract should include not only the accused defendant (the account holder), but also the household and/or family members.
There are other crucial elements to have in such an agreement (e.g., attorney fee shifting specific to these cases), but the above should be sufficient.
STEP 6) HAVE PLAINTIFF ATTORNEY SIGN AGREEMENT(S), THEN HAVE CLIENT SIGN AGREEMENT(S) AND PROCESS SETTLEMENT PAYMENT.
This is self explanatory. The copyright holder is not bound to an agreement until they sign it (or until someone with authority to sign signs it on their behalf as their agent). Attorneys generally try to get the John Doe Defendant to sign first and pay the agreed-upon fee, and then ‘maybe’ they will sign it, and ‘maybe’ they will accept the payment, and ‘maybe’ they will release him or her from liability once the payment is received. These are games their lawyers might play. For this reason, it is advisable to have the defense attorney insist that the plaintiff attorney sign the agreement first in order to bind their client to the terms of the agreement… before their client signs the agreement or pays a penny in resolution of the claims against them.
STEP 7) FOLLOW-UP WITH PLAINTIFF TO HAVE THE “JOHN DOE” ENTITY DISMISSED FROM CASE.
Once again, this is self explanatory, but unfortunately, it must be a step. Too often, plaintiff attorneys have the clients sign first and pay first, and then when they get around to it, they’ll sign the agreement and release that defendant from liability. However, this could take weeks or months.
The reason for this is because once their client has their money, without being contract-bound to release the John Doe Defendant from the case (assuming he signed first), once he pays his settlement money to the plaintiff, he becomes a lower priority to the busy plaintiff attorney (who is juggling sometimes hundreds of negotiations in multiple cases) who is more worried about the due dates for their other cases, or who is more worried about extracting as much as he can from as many of the other accused account holders as possible. This is why it is important in STEP 6) for the plaintiff attorney to sign the agreement first.
Nevertheless, even with a signed agreement, sometimes the plaintiff attorneys need ‘reminders’ to do what they are duty-bound to do. Thus, your attorney should not close the client’s file when payment is sent, but rather, the attorney should stay on top of the plaintiff attorney until the dismissal is actually filed in the court dismissing that John Doe Defendant from liability.
[CONTACT AN ATTORNEY: If you have a question for an attorney about your matter and want options on how to proceed (we can even consider your situation, balancing the costs vs. the risks of each different approach to determine which one works best for you), you can email us at info[at]cashmanlawfirm.com, you can set up a free and confidential phone consultation to speak to us about your case, or you can call us at 713-364-3476 (this is our Cashman Law Firm, PLLC’s number].
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TIMELINE: STRIKE 3 HOLDINGS SUBPOENAS AND HOW TO HANDLE THEM
Any “copyright troll” IP address-based copyright infringement lawsuit really revolves around the subpoena which moves from the court to the internet service provider (ISP), and then is forwarded to the subscribers implicated as John Doe Defendants.
Tracking the timeline of a subpoena can help an accused defendant understand the timelines of when they can fight, when they can settle, when they can ignore, and whether they are anonymous or not at each step.
NOTE: I have moved the contents of this section to its own article, because the topic of “Subpoena Stages and Anonymity” is not limited to this plaintiff’s cases.
Subpoena is first introduced to the court for approval.
First, the plaintiff attorney files the complaint and asks the court for permission to obtain the identities of the various internet users accused of downloading their adult film movie titles under the Blacked, Vixen, etc. brand names.
Once approved by the court, it is delivered to the ISP.
The federal judge approves the subpoena (usually by rubber stamp), and they are then sent to the subpoena department of the various ISPs (e.g., AT&T U-verse, COX Communications, Comcast, etc.).
These ISPs are ordered to hand over the accused subscriber’s information to the plaintiff attorney.
The ISP forwards it to the accused account holder giving him a chance to file an objection with the court.
Before handing over your information, the ISPs send a notice to the account holder that a subpoena has been received, and that they are under a duty to comply with it by a certain date unless the account holder files a Motion to Quash before the arbitrary deadline they set (usually the deadline is 30 days from the notice sent to the subscriber).
You (the account holder) receive the notice, and you learn that you are implicated as being the “John Doe” (the unnamed defendant) in the Strike 3 Holdings LLC v. Does lawsuit. At this point, you are still anonymous.
Assuming that you do not file a motion to quash (here is why you would not do this)…
The ISP complies with the Subpoena and hands over your contact information to the plaintiff attorney.
Assuming you do not file the Motion to Quash (there are many articles on this website explaining why you might not do so), the 30-day deadline set by your ISP will lapse, and your ISP will do as it was instructed to do by the judge. They turn over your information to the PLAINTIFF ATTORNEY (but not to the court or anyone else). You are still anonymous.
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Your anonymity expires once the plaintiff attorney realizes that he or she cannot get a cash payment from you, and based on their evidence that you are the downloader of their Blacked, Vixen, etc. branded movie titles, they file an amended complaint with the court with your name as a defendant, and they serve you with a copy of the complaint. At this point, you have been “named and served,” and you are no longer anonymous. At this point, you need to decide whether it makes more sense to stand and defend against the infringement claims against you (again, consider the attorney fees issue), or to negotiate a settlement and amicably step away from the lawsuit.
NOTE: If you choose to fight, be aware of Prof. Matthew Sag’s paper entitled “Defense Against the Dark Arts of Copyright Trolling,” and the considerations surrounding using what are otherwise “valid” copyright infringement defenses which likely DO apply to your case. At this point, the life of the subpoena is over, as it has served its purpose and the plaintiff attorney is in receipt of your contact information (and whatever other information your ISP was forced to hand over to it). At this point, the plaintiff attorney sees you as the “John Doe” defendant in the lawsuit, and he threatens to name you as a defendant because he knows your real identity. YOU ARE STILL ANONYMOUS at this point (as to the court, and the world, as the plaintiff attorney wouldn’t share your information unless he realizes he is not going to get a settlement from you).
Your anonymity expires once the plaintiff attorney realizes that he or she cannot get a cash payment from you, and based on their evidence that you are the downloader of their Blacked, Vixen, etc. branded movie titles, they file an amended complaint with the court with your name as a defendant, and they serve you with a copy of the complaint. At this point, you have been “named and served,” and you are no longer anonymous. At this point, you need to decide whether it makes more sense to stand and defend against the infringement claims against you (again, consider the attorney fees issue), or to negotiate a settlement and amicably step away from the lawsuit.
NOTE: If you choose to fight, be aware of Prof. Matthew Sag’s paper entitled “Defense Against the Dark Arts of Copyright Trolling,” and the considerations surrounding using what are otherwise “valid” copyright infringement defenses which likely DO apply to your case.
In sum, get acquainted with these arguments use them as a checklist when considering how to respond to your ISP subpoena.
In sum, copyright infringement cases are all similar, but each one has its nuances. The steps described in this article apply to anyone implicated as being a John Doe Defendant in any copyright infringement lawsuit, and for this reason, I wrote this article 1) to not only give the client an understanding of the steps which are required in representing a client prior to being named and served in a John Doe lawsuit, but more importantly, 2) to allow that client to hold their lawyer’s toes to the fire and make sure they are being represented carefully and individually.
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[CONTACT AN ATTORNEY: If you have a question for an attorney about their filings and options on how to proceed (even specifically for your case), you can e-mail us at info[at]cashmanlawfirm.com, you can set up a free and confidential phone consultation to speak to us about your case, or you can call us at 713-364-3476 (this is our Cashman Law Firm, PLLC’s number].
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, and while the attorney-client privilege (which keeps everything that you share confidential and private) attaches immediately when you contact me, 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 more practically, in any e-mail.
Lastly, please pay attention to our privacy policy, as the content of this article (and the various articles we have written) are not to be considered legal advice. Each defendant’s case and circumstances are different, and while we may recommend one course of action for one client, we might recommend the opposite approach simply because the next client’s circumstances justify such an approach.