discovery to identify defendants allegedly engaged benefit of formal discovery mechanisms, the court in copyright infringement by downloading and dis- finds that Plaintiff should be permitted to conduct tributing the plaintiffs' recordings using an online expedited discovery." media distribution system. There the court found that the plaintiffs had set forth good cause for expe Case Questions dited discovery because the *Defendants must be identified before this suit can progress further.' 1. Why will formal discovery be more effective than Much like [the defendants in that case]. Defendants merely requesting the information informally? here have engaged in anonymous online behavior, 2. From the standpoint of the operators of blogs and which will likely remain anonymous unless Plain- Internet chat rooms, how does the formal discov- tiff is able to ascertain their identities. And thus cry process provide them with real and intangible far, Plaintiff has been unsuccessful in its attempts protection? to ascertain Defendants' identities through infor- 3. Focus on Critical Thinking: In your opinion. mal, pre-lawsuit investigation. Because it appears would justice be better served if all or most civil likely that Plaintiff will continue to be thwarted cases proceeded directly to the trial stage without in its attempts to identify Defendants without the the need for costly discovery?CASE 4.2 20/20 Financial Consulting, Inc. v. John Does 1-5, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 55343 (D.C. Colo. May 11, 2010) FACT SUMMARY After 20/20 Financial Con- discovery. The court ruled that because the plaintiff sulting discovered allegedly defamatory statements had exhausted reasonable attempts to identify the about itself posted on various websites and blogs by defendants through nonjudicial means, 20/20 was anonymous authors, the firm conducted an unsuc- entitled to use the tools of discovery in order to help cessful preliminary investigation to discover the it locate the anonymous authors of the alleged defam- names of the authors from the operators of the web- atory Internet posts. Because the court found that sites and blogs. Subsequently, 20/20 filed suit nam- discovery would be the only practical way to ascer- ing five unknown authors as "John Doe" defendants tain the true identities of the defendants, it ruled that and sought a court order to conduct expedited dis- 20/20 should be given the opportunity to pursue its covery in an attempt to establish the true identities claim against the defendants in an efficient manner. of the authors. The rules that govern federal court procedures allow expedited discovery if the infor- WORDS OF THE COURT: Expedited Discovery mation obtained will make trial more efficient. Appropriate "The court finds that good cause exists to permit Plaintiff to conduct expedited dis- SYNOPSIS OF DECISION AND OPINION The covery to discover the identities of Defendants. U.S. District Court in Colorado found in favor Indeed, this case is largely analogous to [a previ- of 20/20 and granted its request for expedited ous case] where the court permitted expedited (continued)