Strike 3 Litigation

In the grand, satirical theater of “John Doe” litigation, we’ve marveled at the new lawyers, the complacent judges, and the duplicitous ISPs. But a deeper, more unsettling question remains: why does this whole machine keep running?

It’s not just a single gear turning; it’s a complex, self-sustaining ecosystem where every player, even those you might think should be fighting back, has a reason to keep the “gravy train” moving.

The Defense Attorney’s Dilemma: Don’t Kill the Golden Goose

You might think that a good defense attorney would have every incentive to put an end to this madness. To file a motion that would finally, once and for all, get a court to rule against these blanket subpoenas and copyright troll business models. But in the world of “John Doe” defense, that would be a catastrophic business decision.

Consider the reality for a lawyer on the defense side. They have lavish lifestyles and upkeep to maintain. They have crushing student loans payments looming over them. They are, after all, running a business. The constant, predictable stream of Strike 3 cases, each with its own settlement opportunity, is a reliable source of income.

If a defense attorney were to truly “win”—that is, if they were to set a precedent that made it impossible for Strike 3 to operate—they would be killing their own business model. The steady flow of worried clients, each willing to pay a few thousand dollars to make the problem go away, would dry up instantly. In this bizarre economy, a decisive victory is a financial defeat.

The Fear Factor: Google is the Ultimate Judge

On the other side of the equation is the client. The “John Doe” subscriber who just received a threatening letter from their ISP. This person isn’t an intellectual property lawyer; they’re a regular person with a family, a job, and a reputation to protect.

The real leverage for the copyright trolls isn’t the threat of a court battle; it’s the threat of a name. For most people, the fear of a simple “Google search” revealing that they were involved in a federal lawsuit for downloading adult films is more terrifying than any legal proceeding. It’s the risk of embarrassment, the potential for a boss or a neighbor to find out, that forces a quick settlement.

The lawyer for the plaintiff knows this. The lawyers for the defendant know this. The entire business model is built on this profound and very human fear.

A Vicious Cycle of Financial Incentives

So, the machine chugs along. The plaintiffs have an incentive to file cases to generate settlements. The ISPs have an incentive to comply with subpoenas to avoid costly litigation and even earn a fee. The judges, as we’ve speculated, may just be going through the motions to clear their dockets. And the defense attorneys, the very people who could stop it, have a strong financial incentive to keep the machine running, to manage the problem rather than to solve it.

It’s a beautiful, terrible, and perfectly capitalist system. It’s not about justice; it’s about a series of calculated financial decisions that, when combined, create a seemingly unstoppable force of wealth extraction.