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The BitTorrent lawsuit surrounding the independent film "Donkeyball" was never a huge campaign - at its height there were only 171 John Doe defendants. Compared to the now struggling "Expendable" or "Hurt Locker" lawsuits, the 171 defendants pales to the 20,000+ defendants in each of these higher profile cases. Nevertheless, the 171 IP address might be able to relax a bit - the US Copyright Group has dismissed the case.
In a court motion submitted today, the USCG is ending is campaign against the remaining IP addresses in the Donkeyball case. Several dozen had already been dismissed earlier in April, leaving only 54 defendants. Today's action, however, looks to end the proceedings in their entirety in DC District Court.
"...Plaintiff hereby gives notice that it voluntarily dismisses the case, without prejudice, in its entirety pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(1)(A)(i).1 No answer or motion for summary judgment has been filed in this case..."
There's the catch, if you didn't notice - without prejudice. It's not really a total win for these Does, rather, at some point in the future, additional legal action can be taken against these alleged infringers. Like many other BitTorrent lawsuits, the judge in this case ordered the USCG to document which defendants it plans to sue in DC. It appears the answer to that, at least for now, is none of them.
Not a single John Doe was ever served in this case.
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Date: 2011-06-13 |