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Stay Vacated, Verizon to Name Names
Posted by James Grimmelmann on Thursday, June 05 @ 16:21:44 EDT Privacy
In a brief order, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit vacated the stay pending appeal in RIAA v. Verizon. Since Verizon was the one appealing the district court's order that it turn over the names of alleged file sharers, the vacation gave Verizon only one way to avoid handing over the names: file for an emergency stay from the Supreme Court.

Verizon chose not to (the last IP-releated emergency stay from the Court, in DVDCCA v. Pavlovich, lasted only a week before being vacated), and instead will fork over the names.

The D.C. Circuit's order, although not technically on the merits of Verizon's appeal, is nonethless not at all promising for Verizon or for privacy. On the one hand, the panel apparently doesn't think much of the privacy claim, since requiring Verizon to hand over the names now gives the RIAA almost everything it wants from the case, no matter what happens on appeal. On the other, the standard for granting or denying a stay hinges on the "likelihood of success on the merits," so the panel tipped its hand.

No matter how bad things look for Verizon, though, for John Does One through Four, their legal troubles are just about to begin.

 
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