alynng1973, are you (or your husband) one of the 995 John Does in the
XPays, Inc. suit filed in California over the infringement of the "One Night in Paris" tape?
If so, and if you are located in Ohio, it may be a good idea for you to file a motion with the Court to quash the subpoena served on your ISP. What a motion to quash the subpoena will do, if not denied by the court, will prevent XPays, Inc. from obtaining your ISP account information (your name, address, email, etc). You will be able to remain anonymous in all court filings - although the copyright infringement suit against you will still go forward. In addition, you may want to consider filing a motion to dismiss you from the action entirely, based on improper joinder and personal jurisdiction grounds.
Your ISP was served with the subpoena to release your identifying information because, apparently, the illegal download of the Paris Hilton video was traced to your computer through your IP address and the date and time of download. The tracking of illegal downloads is not a perfect science, however, especially if you have an unsecured Internet connection.
As for the "mother of all threads"
that tranquility mentioned, I suggest you use the "Search" feature at the top of this forum page. Click on "Search," enter "West Coast Productions" in the "key word" box, type in the verification code and then click enter. A whole litany of threads (28, I believe) will appear that deal with mass-defendant copyright infringement suits, the type of which you are involved in now.
The first thread that you may wish to read is entitled "Illegal Downloading" started by fdfschan. Although it concerns a mass-defendant copyright infringement suit filed in the District of Columbia District Court, and the Plaintiff in the action was
West Coast Productions, Inc., the thread has a lot of information and resources that can be used by you in your California suit, including suggestions on how to file a motion to quash and a motion to dismiss. I really suggest you read through all of the threads that appear, starting from fdfshan's and working your way up to your thread today. After reading through the information provided in the threads, you will then know better what to expect from the action filed against you, and you will be armed with some knowledge of infringement suits in advance of any visit to an attorney in your area - and I recommend you consult with one.
All Intellectual Property (IP) attorneys in Ohio will be familiar with the mass-defendant copyright infringement actions that have been filed in recent years throughout the country, by both the movie industry and the music industry, and many of these attorneys will have a first-hand working knowledge of them. An IP attorney can advise you on how to handle the infringement action filed against you, based on the facts specific to you. If, as you say, you and/or your husband never downloaded the Paris Hilton video, the attorney can help you file the motion to quash the subpoena served on your ISP, to preserve your anonymity and protect your privacy, and the attorney can work to get you dismissed from the suit entirely, based on whatever grounds fit the facts.
Good luck.
