Elvis Denied US Discovery of Sony Music For Litigation in Germany Adverse To Arista Music

In re  Elvis Presley Enters. LLC, No. 15-mc-386 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 1, 2016).

Elvis Presley Enterprises LLC is party to a litigation in Germany against Arista Music, and sought to serve a subpoena in the USA on Arista's affialiate, Sony Music, to obtain documents that it claims are relevant to the proceedings in Germany.  The Court exercised its discretion and denied the application pursuant to 28 USC 1782.  Weighing in favor of Sony's opposition to the discovery were: Arista is a wholly-owend subsidiary and thus has access to the documents and information held by Sony, the procedural posture of the case in Germany (it was on appeal), the timing of the section 1782 application, and the discovery requests were burdensome.

Improper Joinder of Doe Cases

From the Bloomberg IP Report, Vol.2, No. 2, p. 8-9 (Jan. 12, 2009)

District of Connecticut Finds Record Companies Improperly Joined Doe Defendants in Two Closely Related Peer-to-Peer File Sharing Cases

Synopsis: In two closely related actions, the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut determined that plaintiff record companies improperly joined doe defendants in copyright
infringement suits involving peer-to-peer file sharing. The court also held, however, that the record labels could immediately serve subpoenas on the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to
determine the doe defendants’ identities.

Analysis of: Arista Records, LLC v. Does 1-4, No. 08-CV-01280, 2008 BL 273554 (D. Conn. Dec. 9, 2008); and Interscope Records v. Does 1-6, No. 08-CV-01284, 2008 BL 273554 (D. Conn. Dec. 9, 2008).