Thomas & Betts Corp. v. Does 1-50 [1]

On May 12, 2000, Thomas & Betts Corporation, an electrical connector manufacturer, brought a John Doe lawsuit in California state court against several anonymous posters to a Yahoo message board [2] about the company.  The company alleged that certain of the anonymous posters defamed the company and released its proprietary information. The court authorized Thomas & Betts to subpoena Yahoo! for identifying information. 

After notification from Yahoo!, one of the defendants, "WatchingTNB," filed a motion to strike the complaint under the California anti-SLAPP statute (Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 425.16 [3]) and to quash the subpoena.  In August 2000, Thomas & Betts dropped the case against all defendants and issued a joint statement with Public Citizen (WatchingTNB's counsel): 

Although Thomas & Betts believes it has a legitimate interest in investigating releases of non-public information, the John Doe litigation it commenced in California was not the best forum to address those concerns. As a result, Thomas & Betts decided to voluntarily dismiss its lawsuit and thereby put to rest any concern that the litigation might chill fair and open discussion of the company’s business. Public Citizen appreciates Thomas & Betts’s responsiveness to the concerns it raised.