In the fall of last year, the Ninth Circuit heard argument based, in part, on an oft-cited fact - IP Addresses are not people. They no more identify the user of a router than a caller ID identifies the actual person on the phone. (Hint, someone else can call other than the person paying the phone bill).
Ninth Circuit chimes in
A scattering of District Courts' have stated this obvious fact. However, no Circuit (appellate) Court chimed in. The Ninth Circuit did just that on an appeal
In this copyright action, we consider whether a bare allegation that a defendant is the registered subscriber of an Internet Protocol (“IP”) address associated with infringing activity is sufficient to state a claim for direct or contributory infringement. We conclude that it is not.
To date, it appears this ruling has not slowed the number of suits filed by BitTorrent Plaintiffs.