Massachusetts | Civil Rights Law
Legal Question
Subpoena Infromation from a company in a civil case?
I have a question for you. How difficult is it to subpoena
information from a company if you are dealing with a civil case?
For example, someone leaked the Harry Potter novel online 4 days
before it's release. The leak was in the form of digital images taken
by a digital camera. Unknown to the leaker, the camera's serial
number, make, and model was embedded in the pictures revealing that
the pictures were taken with a Canon 350D camera. So the publishing
house contacted Canon and asked them for the identity of the owner.
Canon refused to cooperate saying it was a violation of their privacy
policy. Since the leaker didn't distribute the book for profit, it
became a civil case.
I guess my questions are...
Is it more difficult to subpoena information from a company in a civil
case as opposed to a criminal one?
Is there any way the publishing company can force Canon to hand over
the information if it's a civil case or are they out of luck?
If this were a criminal case, would it be easier to obtain this information?
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