Prenda
Judge senses abuse, bars troll McIntyre from using Doe contact information
Remember how Texas judge Lynn N. Hughes lashed copyright troll McIntyre over his sloppiness (and, although judge never said it explicitly, douchbaggery)? Remember an amusing line “The court is not an ex-girlfriend’s Facebook wall” that went mini-viral (retweeted by many famous tweeps)?
After obtaining some information about Does from ISPs, crook McIntyre was getting ready to send out blackmail letters, and, to avoid further scrutiny, tried to silently dismiss the case without prejudice on 5/25/12 — a normal troll modus operandi. Fortunately for Does, judge noticed that, and, clearly understanding that his court was cynically used as an instrument of extortion, issued an unprecedented order:
The case was finally dismissed on 6/15 as McIntyre wanted, but with prejudice by judges’ order, and the troll was left empty handed. Kudos to judge Hughes, I wish all federal judges were as straightforward and intolerant to abuse as he is. I’m puzzled though: why wasn’t McIntyre slapped with sanctions?
To those who can’t read the embedded document:
Case 4:11-cv-04431 Document 21 Filed in TXSD on 06/08/12
First Time Videos, LLC, Plaintiff, versus Does 1-46, Defendant.Order to Prevent the Misuse of Discovery
First Time Videos sued 46 Does then used pre-trial discovery to search for actual defendants. After it had obtained the personal information of 15 people, it did not tell the court what it had discovered or how it had used this information.
First Time has abused its opportunity for discovery. It has insufficiently cooperated with the court and now wants to abandon its claims without explanation.
It may not use the information it has received; it must destroy it.
Signed on June 8, 2012 art Houston, Texas
Lynn N. Hughes
United States District Judge
Fight © Trolls 
YES!!! Another troll gets schooled…now we need to work on getting ’em permanently expelled!!! I like this Judge; he’s just like John Wayne – rough, tough, & takes no sh*t.
Thanks SJD.
This guy does work for Prenda, right?
This must be the result of John Steele dropping by with the words of advice he told us he’s been flying around distributing to Trolls across the nation.
And bets on the troll actually doing that?
I’m sure they will magically invent another way to contact people or to have already had the letters going out…
I’d like to see an order for the court to send a letter to each Doe informing them this case is DEAD, and asking for them to let the court know if they are contacted by anyone about this matter.
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Great post. Good to see the Judge did something. Too bad sanctions are so hard to come by even with such straight forward dirty-bag actions. Also thanks for the link to the document location.
I would love to shake Judge Hughes’ hand and thank him for getting wise to these trolls. Now if he would talk to his Judge friends in the other district courts we could really see some results. (I know…baby steps)
Do we know for sure that McIntyre had not contacted anyone yet? What if he had gotten someone to settle already? I’ve always been curious about that kind of situation occurring, not just in this particular case. Would the troll have to return their settlements and vacate the settlement agreement?
Answered in this order: http://ia600802.us.archive.org/14/items/gov.uscourts.txsd.940033/gov.uscourts.txsd.940033.24.0.pdf
I heard a doe from AZ has been making a lot of informing phone calls to judges as of late. Does anyone know if its the guy being named? Things are definitely becoming intriguing if it is.