Hard Drive Productions, Inc., is an adult film studio with a history of suing anonymous "John Doe" defendants for copyright infringement.

[2] Hard Drive Productions claimed that the defendants had used BitTorrent to illegally download and distribute its movie "Amateur Alleur—MaeLynn.

Hard Drive Productions knew the IP addresses assigned to each defendant by their Internet service provider (ISP), however the plaintiff had no information about the true identities of these individuals.

Hard Drive Productions moved to compel the ISPs by subpoena to disclose the true identities of the defendants.

[4] Subsequently, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF),[5][6] an organization that advocates internet users' anonymity and other rights in the digital world,[7] sent an amicus curiae and requested an emergency stay—a motion that would halt action so that the order could be reconsidered.

In this opinion, court applied the 5-part balancing test adopted in Sony Music Entertainment, Inc. v. Does 1–40, 326 F. Supp.

[8] On December 21, 2012 the case was dismissed in its entirety without prejudice, but the plaintiff could still file a new lawsuit in other jurisdictions until the statute of limitation has expired.

In practice, once the plaintiff knew the identities of defendants, it could take advantage of substantial extrajudicial remedies such as public humiliation in porn copyright cases.