Strike 3 Holdings, LLC — recognized for its pornographic manufacturers Blacked, Tushy, Vixen, and Blacked Uncooked — filed 14 lawsuits this Valentine’s Day. Two years in the past it filed 15.
Every of the brand new instances alleged {that a} “John Doe” defendant, solely recognized by a string of numbers alleged to be an web tackle, had illegally downloaded one in every of Strike 3’s movies. In every case, Strike 3 suggested the courtroom that it was looking for $150,000 in damages.
Filings in 2024 within the federal courtroom in San Francisco remained comparatively flat with slightly below 250 new instances commenced. However whereas the expansion charge of recent instances within the “mature” market of San Francisco is way under different newer districts, San Francisco retains its lead amongst all districts within the nation with a complete of 1,506 Strike 3 instances since 2017.
The Japanese District of New York (the counties of Kings, Nassau, Queens, Richmond, and Suffolk) and the District of New Jersey (the complete state), comply with with 1,369 and 1,279 instances respectively.
The instances are massive enterprise.
Separating John from his dough
BCN’s evaluation exhibits that the instances don’t linger in courtroom for lengthy. For instance, Strike 3’s filings in in San Francisco in February of 2024 are all resolved in the present day and the common time from submitting to decision for that batch was about 5 months, extraordinarily fast by the requirements of federal courtroom litigation. Few instances are actively litigated.
Protection attorneys reported to BCN in early 2024 that almost all instances within the district settled within the vary of $10,000 to $15,000.
Settlements are pushed by a number of components, however one essential dynamic is that the John Doe sued in every case has to face the prospect that Strike 3 will be capable to use the courtroom course of to attach John Doe’s web tackle — the lengthy string of numbers on the face of the criticism — to the precise one that has that web tackle.
And as soon as Strike 3 finds out who owns that IP tackle, it would demand a money fee to make the case go away or drive the defendant to face doubtlessly giant damages if the alleged infringement is confirmed and proven to be willful.
One other issue contributes to the fast resolutions.
Legal professional Steve Vondran of San Francisco has dealt with near 500 of the instances. His web site states, “We Settle Cases Quickly, Quietly With A Low Flat Rate Fee!”
A screenshot of San Francisco-based copyright lawyer Steve Vondran’s web site, Vondran Authorized. Vondran has performed a task in arranging settlements for an estimated 500 purchasers focused with copyright infringement litigation from grownup leisure firm Strike 3 Holdings. “We have people that have really good jobs in really prominent companies,” Vondran says, “so, you know, it’s kind of shameful and they don’t want to be associated. So they’ll pony up a settlement to avoid that. …” (Screenshot through vondranlegal.com)
He defined one of many settlement dynamics: “We have people that have really good jobs in really prominent companies. So, you know, it’s kind of shameful and they don’t want to be associated. So they’ll pony up a settlement to avoid that, even sometimes when they think they haven’t done anything.”
Whereas 2024 was a very good 12 months for brand new Strike 3 instances, there isn’t any cause to suppose that its litigation enterprise has run its course.
