"An appeals court on Friday blocked studios and record labels from using expedited subpoenas to identify internet users suspected of illegally sharing songs, movies and TV shows.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that copyright holders cannot use the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to subpoena internet providers that merely act as conduits for infringing material.
The Motion Picture Association and the Recording Industry Association of America had warned that blocking such subpoenas will hamper efforts to fight digital piracy.
(...)
The 9th Circuit had not previously addressed the issue, but its ruling aligns with decisions from the D.C. Circuit in 2003 and the 8th Circuit in 2005. Since those decisions, copyright holders have largely opted to file lawsuits against John Does before seeking subpoenas to identify the defendants, rather than using the expedited DMCA process.
“This decision doesn’t prevent copyright holders from identifying online infringers,” said Victoria Noble, a staff attorney at EFF. “It simply forecloses one mechanism for doing so that is particularly susceptible to abuse.”"
https://variety.com/2025/biz/news/court-blocks-subpoenas-identify-piracy-1236490675/
#USA #MPA #RIAA #Copyright #Surveillance #Privacy #DMCA #RentSeeking #Subpoenas #Filesharing
