Eros LLC v. Doe [1]

Eros, LLC has created adult entertainment products in the virtual world Second Life, which it sells to other Second Life users for Linden dollars, which can be converted into US dollars. Another Second Life user, with avatar name "Volkov Catteneo," allegedly copied Eros's products and sold them to other Second Life users without authorization. According to the TimesOnline [2], the products at issue are beds that allow users of Second Life to have virtual sex in them.

In July 2007, Eros began a John Doe lawsuit for copyright and trademark infringement in federal court in Florida. Eros filed an ex parte [3] motion seeking permission to issue subpoenas to discover information about the identity of the anonymous defendant from Linden Lab, which operates Second Life, and from PayPal, which was used to pay for Catteneo's account. The court granted the motion, and Eros obtained account information from each company.

However, Catteneo then gave an interview with Reuters, during which he claimed that he had provided both PayPal and Linden with false information. Eros then filed a motion for permission to issue subpoenas to AT&T and Charter Communications seeking subscriber information for certain IP addresses allegedly used by Catteneo. The court granted the motion in September 2007.

On October 24, 2007, Eros filed an amended complaint, naming Robert Leatherwood, a resident of Texas, and ten John Doe defendants. The amended complaint alleges that Leatherwood acted in concert with unknown parties to make and sell unauthorized copies of Eros's products.

On March 20, 2008, Eros filed an unopposed motion [4] for entry of a judgment by consent against Leatherwood. The judge granted [5] the motion, and the final order enjoined Leatherwood from further unauthorized copying of Eros's merchandise.