How Case 1:23-cv-03773 Belongs to Both Strike 3 Holdings and Donald Trump?

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Case number 1:23-cv-03773 belongs to two unrelated federal cases: a copyright suit in Brooklyn and Donald Trump’s bid to move his hush-money case to federal court in Manhattan. Here’s how one number ended up in two courts.

Two very different cases carry the same federal number, 1:23-cv-03773.

One is a copyright lawsuit against an unnamed internet user in Brooklyn. The other is Donald J. Trump’s attempt to move his Manhattan hush-money prosecution into federal court. They were filed fifteen days apart, in two different federal courts. Here’s how that happens.

The Short Answer

Every federal district court numbers its own cases. The number restarts each year.
New York City has two federal district courts: the Southern District (S.D.N.Y.) in Manhattan and the Eastern District (E.D.N.Y.) in Brooklyn.
Each court gave out its own civil case number 3773 in 2023.
The judge’s initials at the end tell them apart: -AKH (Manhattan) and -OEM-TAM (Brooklyn).

How to Read the Number

1 : 23 – cv – 03773 – AKH

1 = court office (division)
23 = year filed (2023)
cv = civil docket
03773 = case count for that court that year
AKH = judge’s initials

Case 1: Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. John Doe

Case No. 1:23-cv-03773-OEM-TAM Court: U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn) Filed: May 19, 2023 Nature of Suit: 820 Copyrights Plaintiff: Strike 3 Holdings, LLC (Delaware) Defendant: John Doe, known only by an IP address (Verizon Fios subscriber, Kings County) Plaintiff’s Attorney: John C. Atkin, The Atkin Firm, LLC What it’s about: Strike 3 owns adult films. It says an unnamed user downloaded and shared 30 of its movies through BitTorrent. It doesn’t know who the person is, only the IP address, so it sued “John Doe” and planned to ask Verizon to identify the subscriber.

Laws cited:

17 U.S.C. § 106: the owner’s exclusive rights to copy, distribute, perform and display
17 U.S.C. § 501: copyright infringement
17 U.S.C. § 504: damages, including statutory damages for willful infringement
17 U.S.C. § 505: attorneys’ fees and costs
28 U.S.C. § 1331 and § 1338: federal court jurisdiction over copyright cases
28 U.S.C. § 1400(a): venue for copyright cases

Relief sought: An order to stop the infringement and delete the files, plus statutory damages, attorneys’ fees and a jury trial.

Documents:

Case 2: People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump

Case No. 1:23-cv-03773-AKH Court: U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan) Filed: May 4, 2023 Nature of Proceeding: Notice of Removal of a state criminal case Removed From: Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County, Ind. No. 71543-23 Filing Party: Donald J. Trump Other Party: The People of the State of New York (Manhattan District Attorney) Trump’s Attorneys: Todd Blanche (Blanche Law), Susan R. Necheles (NechelesLaw LLP), Joseph Tacopina (Tacopina Seigel & DeOreo)

What it’s about: A Manhattan grand jury indicted Trump on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. The charges involved 2017 payments to Michael Cohen that prosecutors said repaid a hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels. Trump argued the case belonged in federal court because the conduct happened while he was President, and because federal election law preempts the state theory.

Laws cited:

28 U.S.C. § 1442: federal officers may move state cases about acts “under color of office” to federal court
28 U.S.C. § 1455: procedure and 30-day deadline for removing a criminal case
N.Y. Penal Law § 175.10: falsifying business records, first degree (felony)
N.Y. Penal Law § 175.05: falsifying business records, second degree (misdemeanor)
52 U.S.C. § 30143: federal election law preempts state law on federal elections

Outcome:

July 19, 2023: Judge Hellerstein sent the case back to state court. He found the payments were private, unofficial acts.
May 2024: A state jury convicted Trump on all 34 counts. He was sentenced to an unconditional discharge on January 10, 2025.
September 2024: Hellerstein denied a second removal request.
November 2025: The Second Circuit told him to take another look.
August 28, 2026: Hellerstein denied removal a third time. Trump’s appeal of the conviction continues in the New York state courts.

Why “cv” for a criminal case? The underlying prosecution is criminal, but it was a state case. The federal court opened a civil-numbered docket to handle the removal request. Hellerstein’s opinions refer to it as “23 Civ. 3773.”

Document:

Read Trump’s Notice of Removal (May 4, 2023)

Side by Side

	Strike 3 v. John Doe	People v. Trump
Case No.	1:23-cv-03773-OEM-TAM	1:23-cv-03773-AKH
Court	E.D.N.Y. (Brooklyn)	S.D.N.Y. (Manhattan)
Filed	May 19, 2023	May 4, 2023
Type	Copyright lawsuit	Removal of state criminal case
Main Law	17 U.S.C. § 501	28 U.S.C. §§ 1442, 1455
Judge	Orelia E. Merchant / Taryn A. Merkl	Alvin K. Hellerstein
Connection	None. Same number, different courts.

The Judges

Judge’s Name: Hon. Alvin K. Hellerstein (AKH) Position: Senior U.S. District Judge, S.D.N.Y. (appointed by President Clinton, 1998; senior status 2011). Died October 28, 2026. Born: December 28, 1933, New York, NY Education: Columbia College, B.A., 1954; Columbia Law School, J.D., 1956 Prior Judicial Service: None. Law clerk to Judge Edmund Palmieri; U.S. Army JAG Corps, 1957–1960; private practice, 1960–1998. Courthouse: Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse, 500 Pearl Street, New York, NY Role here: Presided over Trump’s removal case.

Judge’s Name: Hon. Orelia E. Merchant (OEM) Position: U.S. District Judge, E.D.N.Y. (appointed by President Biden; commissioned May 12, 2023) Born: 1971, Bronx, NY Education: Dillard University, B.S., 1992; College of William & Mary, M.A., 1995; Tulane University Law School, J.D., 1998 Prior Judicial Service: None. EPA Assistant Regional Counsel; Assistant U.S. Attorney, E.D.N.Y., 2002–2019; Chief Deputy Attorney General for State Counsel, New York, 2019–2023. Courthouse: Theodore Roosevelt U.S. Courthouse, 225 Cadman Plaza East, Brooklyn, NY Role here: District judge assigned to the Strike 3 case, one week after joining the court.

Judge’s Name: Hon. Taryn A. Merkl (TAM) Position: U.S. Magistrate Judge, E.D.N.Y. (since May 3, 2021) Born: Not publicly listed Education: University of Michigan, B.A., 1996; Columbia Law School, J.D., 2000 Prior Judicial Service: None. Clerked for Judge Jan E. DuBois (E.D. Pa.) and Chief Judge John M. Walker Jr. (2d Cir.); Assistant U.S. Attorney, E.D.N.Y., 2002–2019; Senior Counsel, Brennan Center for Justice. Courthouse: Theodore Roosevelt U.S. Courthouse, 225 Cadman Plaza East, Brooklyn, NY Role here: Magistrate judge handling pretrial matters in the Strike 3 case.

Conclusion

Case number 1:23-cv-03773 does not belong to only one case. The Southern District gave it to Donald Trump’s removal filing on May 4, 2023. Fifteen days later, the Eastern District gave the same number to Strike 3’s copyright suit. The parties, laws and judges are completely different.