Steele v. Godfread [1]

This action is closely linked to two other threats in the database: Prenda Law v. Godfread [2]and Duffy v. Godfread [3]. All related filings can be found in the database entry for Prenda Law v. Godfread [2].

Plaintiff John Steele is an attorney affiliated with a law firm (Prenda Law, Inc.) that has been representing clients in numerous plaintiff-side copyright cases concerning the sharing of movies over the BitTorrent protocol. These cases have been brought on behalf of several different asserted rightsholders [4], including the entities AF Holdings LLC and Ingenuity 13 LLC. According to a statement made by attorney Brett Gibbs [5], who identified himself as Of Counsel to Prenda Law, both AF Holdings and Ingenuity 13 are incorporated in the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. The defendant in one proceeding initiated by Prenda Law has alleged [6] that these entities are shell companies, and that the attorneys bringing the lawsuits own some or all of the these companies.

Multiple filings in these proceedings have included the signature of an "Alan Cooper," who has been identified as a principal of both AF Holdings and Ingenuity 13. On November 29, 2012, an Alan Cooper, through his attorney Paul Godfread, filed a letter [7] with two federal judges in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, stating that he had reason to believe that John Steele and Prenda Law were using his name on filings related to these lawsuits without his permission, and that he is not in any way affiliated with AF Holdings or Ingenuity 13. On January 23, 2013, Cooper (through Godfread) sued [8] John Steele, Prenda Law, AF Holdings, and Ingenuity 13 for invasion of privacy and violation of Minnesota's deceptive trade practices statute [9] in the Minnesota District Court for the Fourth Judicial District.

On February 24, 2013, Steele sued Cooper, his attorney, and 10 unnamed defendants [10] for defamation, false light, tortious interference, and civil conspiracy in the Florida Circuit Court for the 11th judicial circuit. Nearly identical complaints were filed by Prenda Law attorney Paul Duffy [11] in the Illinois Circuit Court for Cook County and by Prenda Law [12] in the Illinois Circuit Court for St. Clair county. All three complaints allege that Cooper and Godfread have falsely accused the respective plaintiffs of committing crimes and frauds, in both statements online and filings before the Minnesota courts. The complaints identify dozens of statements that are alleged to have been made on different online fora about Prenda Law and its members. 

All three of these cases were removed to federal courts: the United States District Courts for the the Southern District of Florida [13], the Southern District of Illinois [14], and the Northern District of Illinois [15], respectively. On March 6, 2013, John Steele voluntarily dismissed [16] the complaint in the Florida action. The two Illinois actions are still pending. Further updates on those cases can be found at Prenda Law v. Godfread [2] and Duffy v. Godfread [3].