Last week we reported on a scathing order signed by a Florida state judge in one of several copyright trolling cases pending in the state of Florida. After we published the story, we learned that Judge Marc Schumacher had withdrawn the order. Evidently, it had been drafted by one of the defendants, and Judge Schumacher had signed it on the mistaken belief that it had been agreed to by all parties in the case.

But while the defendants' celebrations last week were premature, two rulings in related cases this week have dealt a serious blow to the plaintiffs and their dodgy legal strategy. Ordinarily, copyright law is handled by the federal courts, but Florida plaintiffs have begun using an obscure provision of state law called a "pure bill of discovery" to attempt to force ISPs to reveal the identity of suspected file-sharers.

As Princeton copyright scholar Bart Huffman explained last year, the plaintiffs' legal theory was always rather shaky. This week, it appears to have collapsed altogether.

A group of ISPs objected to the questionable subpoenas they had received, and so plaintiffs attempted to remove those ISPs' specific customers from the lawsuit rather than risk losing a ruling on the merits. But the ISPs pressed for an official ruling on the legality of the plaintiffs' fishing expedition.

In a pair of rulings, one on Monday and one on Wednesday, two different judges sided with the objecting ISPs. On Monday, Judge Ronald Dresnick dismissed a case targeting 313 Internet users. On Wednesday, Judge Marc Schumacher issued a ruling in another case—separate from but similar to the one we reported on last week—targeting 625 defendants. He didn't dismiss the lawsuit entirely, but he did the next best thing. He quashed subpoenas to the objecting ISPs and ordered that other ISPs be notified of the opportunity to challenge them.

These back-to-back rulings against the plaintiffs suggest that they're likely to lose any time ISPs raise objections to fishing expeditions against their customers. Unfortunately, a source tells Ars, some ISPs may have already disclosed their subscribers' identity before this week's rulings, and others may yet do so in other cases that are still pending. This week's rulings are good news, but we wish Judge Schumacher had stuck with the order he signed last week.

Listing image by Photograph by Doug Kerr