Christopher “Denver Metro Audits” Cordova’s copyright infringement lawsuit against Jonathan “Frauditor Troll” Huneault suffered a significant setback Monday night as a United States Magistrate Judge ruled against Cordova’s request for a preservation order to stop Huneault from removing material from his YouTube channel.
In a three-page ruling, United States Magistrate Judge Virginia K. DeMarchi disagreed with Cordova’s assertations Monday night. In denying the motion without prejudice, Judge DeMarchi questioned her ability to issue an order at this time as the docket has yet to reflect that Huneault had been served with the lawsuit.
Judge DeMarchi wrote: “With respect to Mr. Huneault, Mr. Cordova argues that a preservation order is necessary because Mr. Huneault “has deleted more than 1,700 videos,” including the infringing video, since the filing of the lawsuit. Dkt. No. 8 at 4. He contends that this activity creates a significant risk of spoliation as “no assurances have been made by Defendant or YouTube (Google LLC) regarding [the videos’] preservation.” Id. at 6. Mr. Cordova contends that if Mr. Huneault or YouTube fails to preserve information related to these videos such as “timestamps, view counts, monetization data, and unedited video files,” he will “face[] the irretrievable loss of key evidence necessary to prove the scope, willfulness, and financial impact of the infringement . . .” Id. at 7.
As a party to this action, Mr. Huneault has an existing and well-established preservation obligation, and his failure to comply with this obligation could result in the imposition of sanctions or another remedy determined by the Court. See Young v. Facebook, Inc., No. 5:10-cv03579-JF/PVT, 2010 WL 3564847, at *1 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 13, 2010). Mr. Cordova has not established “a significant concern that potentially relevant evidence will be destroyed causing harm to [him].” Bright Sols., 2015 WL 5159125 at *2. He has shown only that Mr. Huneault took down the allegedly infringing content (and other content not at issue) from Mr. Huneault’s YouTube channel after receiving notice of this action, an outcome Mr. Cordova specifically requested via a “takedown notice” he submitted to YouTube under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. See Dkt. No. 1 ¶¶ 53-56. Mr. Cordova cites no other basis for the Court to conclude that Mr. Huneault has deleted or destroyed evidence, such as the accused video itself.”
Further, Judge DeMarchi questioned if ordering YouTube/Google, a non-party in the case was appropriate at this time.
She continued, “With respect to YouTube, Mr. Cordova also has not made a sufficient showing to support his request for a preservation order. The Court assumes that Mr. Cordova intends to seek discovery from YouTube, and seeks a preservation order in anticipation of serving a non-party subpoena on YouTube. However, Mr. Cordova does not identify the information he seeks from YouTube or explain why it is relevant to any issue in the case; he does not explain why he believes information in YouTube’s possession is at risk of being lost before it can be obtained via subpoena; and he does not provide any basis for the Court to conclude that he would suffer irreparable harm should a preservation order not be entered as to YouTube. “
As previously reported, Huneault and other YouTubers have been removing videos from their YouTube channels following Huneault’s notification of the lawsuit by Cordova. Huneault recently removed over 1,700 videos from his main YouTube channel, which accounted for a loss of over 53,000,000 views.
Cordova responded to the apparent purge of Huneault’s channel by filing a preservation order and then going live on Sunday to berate Huneault for the activity. He claimed that Troll actions were “not the action who believes their videos are fair use” and implied that Huneault and others were engaging in wrongdoing by removing videos from their channels.
The YouTuber also indicated that he was in the process of registering the copyrights of other videos on his channel and had planned on more lawsuits against YouTube creators who he alleges improperly used material he had previously registered.
To date, Cordova has registered the copyright of a single video from his catalog, “Another Chad Exposed!!! Worthless Denver Cops…ASSAULTED!!!” After the registration process completed, he filed suit against Huneault and recently filed a John Doe suit against the owner of the Destination 2Truth YouTube channel.
Judge DeMarchi’s orders preserve Cordova’s right to refile the ex parte application at a later date, however, she could not conclude that a preservation order was warranted as to either Huneault or YouTube at this time.
This is a breaking news story.
Well, well, well. You would think, a world renowned lawyer with such skill would have already prepared for these outcomes?
That or they grasping at straws in the darkest of nights hoping they get a judge too stupid to tie their own shoes?
Not for me to say what is happening here. After all with such legal talent, it must be a plan, he must be playing 4 dimensional chess, thinking too far above and so many moves ahead of more simply people. Afterall, this sort of amiteur mistake might lead one to serious doubt the ability and competence of the wonder lawyer in this suit. And doubt we would for any other lawyer. But not this one. He is the slayer of the Happy Birthday copyright killer! A song we all sing, sang and sung and never paid a cent but slay the beast for what cause we do not know. But more of that 4th dimensional chess. So, the judges ruling, which would be embarrassing to any other competent lawyer must be part of their cunning plan that I, for one, am simply not smart enough to understand. There can be no other explanation.
We are privilege to see the work of genius in front of us!
Sheer Poetry in motion to lift your hearts all aflutter.
Now, just keep those pigeons from flying around after they had their lunches…