IANAL, but AIUI filing a John Doe lawsuit is acceptable because there are statutes of limitations on how long you have to file a suit. By filing a case with an

IANAL, but AIUI filing a John Doe lawsuit is acceptable because there are statutes of limitations on how long you have to file a suit. By filing a case with an unknown defendant, you protect your right to sue while you go about gathering evidence. You’re still going to have to sue someone identifiable at the end of it, but they can’t argue that your suit is too old (since the reason it’s too old is that the defendant was hiding their identity, not that you weren’t timely in noticing and responding to the infringement).