Los Angeles – from www.dmwmedia.com – A federal judge has ruled that a Canadian adult film company cannot file “John Doe” lawsuits seeking the identities of suspected illegal downloaders of its films, TorrentFreak reported.

In VPR Internationale v. Does 1-1017, U.S. District Judge Harold Baker cited the weak connection between an IP address and an ISP account holder, and the fact that a defendant may be pressured into paying to settle a pornography-related lawsuit rather than have their identity made public.

“The infringer might be the subscriber, someone in the subscriber’s household, a visitor with her laptop, a neighbor, or someone parked on the street at any given moment,” Baker wrote in his ruling.

“Could expedited discovery be used to wrest quick settlements, even from people who have done nothing wrong?” Baker questioned, adding, “the embarrassment of public exposure might be too great, the legal system too daunting and expensive, for some to ask whether the plaintiff VPR has competent evidence to prove its case.”