Court refuses to strike class allegations and affirmative defenses in Scott v. Scribd case

In the purported class action copyright lawsuit filed against document-storage site Scribd.com, the court has denied Scribd's motion to strike the class allegations. Judge Melinda Harmon of the Southern District of Texas ruled that the plaintiff, author Elaine Scott, is entitled to take discovery on issues related to Rule 23, and that "a decision should not be made on class certification prior to Plaintiff moving for such."
Order on Motion to Strike Class Allegations

In addition, Judge Harmon denied the plaintiff's motion to strike Scribd's affirmative defenses, ruling that "each asserted defense is stated in sufficiently clear terms to give Scott fair notice" under Rule 8. Bottom line: discovery proceeds.

In Williams v. Scribd, a similar case pending in San Diego, the court has taken under submission Scribd's motion to dismiss based on, inter alia, the DMCA Section 512(c) safe harbor. It seems unlikely to me that the motion to dismiss will succeed, given the highly fact-specific nature of the inquiry into whether a defendant has taken the steps necessary to stay within the safe harbor.