IP Law Daily, COPYRIGHT—N.D. Cal.: Another subpoena to disclose anonymous Reddit posters quashed, (Feb 8, 2024)

By Thomas K. Lauletta, J.D.

The posters’ anonymous online identities were protected by the First Amendment.

The U.S. District Court in San Francisco, California quashed a subpoena in connection with film producers’ suit against Frontier Communications for copyright infringement to disclose anonymous Reddit posters who allegedly violated the producers’ copyrights. Citing First Amendment protections for anonymous online speech recognized by the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the district court noted that the information sought here was available from other sources, including the Internet Server Provider (“ISP”), Frontier (In re Subpoena to Reddit, Inc., February 7, 2024, Hixson, T.).

On April 14, 2020, Frontier filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The movants in the present case were movie companies that filed proof of claim against Frontier for copyright infringement of their movies (“Movants’”). On December 1, 2023, the bankruptcy court ruled that the Movants established good cause to disclose the identity of Frontier Internet subscribers who allegedly infringed the Movants’ copyrights.

Reddit is a community of online communities. Within those communities, users gather to discuss shared interests. Users generally participate on the platform using false names, and Reddit does not require that they use or provide Reddit with their legal names or addresses.

On Dec. 17, 2023, Movants served a subpoena to Reddit requesting the IP address log information of several users identified by their login names. The subpoena sought login information for Reddit users “who boasted of using the service of the Internet service provider Frontier for piracy on Reddit’s platform.” After Reddit served objections, the Movants filed the present Motion to Compel on January 9, 2024.

Movants’ assertions. The Movants argued that Frontier had lost its protection under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) because it did not cooperate with the Movants to expeditiously remove content that infringed their copyrights. To support their assertions, the Movants pointed to Reddit user comments showing that Frontier had not reasonably implemented a policy for terminating repeat infringers, as required for a DMCA safe harbor defense. Further, other Reddit users allegedly commented that because they believed that they were free to pirate copyrighted material on Frontier without consequences, this was a draw to use Frontier’s online services.

First Amendment protections. The district court noted that the First Amendment protects the rights of individuals to speak anonymously. Further, the Ninth Circuit recognizes that the decision to remain anonymous extends to anonymous speech made on the Internet. This protection is particularly strong with respect to third party civil subpoenas, such as here, where the information is sought from potential witnesses rather than potential defendants.

The court stated that the district courts within the Ninth Circuit have held that the core question is whether the information sought is available from any other source. Here, this information was available from two sources. The first was from the Movants themselves, who admitted that they already have “pirating IP addresses.” Further, Frontier has advised that it will provide the Movants with the requested identifying information for those addresses once it receives a subpoena directing it to do so.

Court action. The district court denied the Movants’ Motion to Compel.

The case is No. 3:24-mc-80005-TSH.

Attorneys: Julie Erin Schwartz (Perkins Coie LLP) for Reddit, Inc.

Companies: Reddit, Inc.

Cases: Copyright TechnologyInternet CaliforniaNews