Originally Posted by Quentin

[ i]t makes a big difference to the court in these copyright cases whether the plaintiff(s) appear to have any intent to actually litigate their claims. In the cases that Judge Brown was ruling and commenting on, it appears that he has not been persuaded that the plaintiffs intend to litigate; he thinks they are just fishing for the identity of people that they can enter into settlement negotiations with, and have no real intent to follow through with a lawsuit against any who do not settle.

Whether or not he's sympathetic to the plaintiffs' claims or the plight of their businesses that stems from widespread pirating of their content, a judge has to consider the court's interests, as well. At the end of the day, the court really isn't supposed to be merely a means by which plaintiffs can secure a list of possible defendants to pressure into settlements -- particularly if the court gets the sense that the plaintiff's plan does not include litigation, at all, and that the whole point of lumping defendants together in a single complaint is to avoid paying the court $350 per filing to go after each defendant individually. ...