27 January 2014
Last updated at 21:32 ET
A link to The Hateful Eight script remained on Gawker's
Defamer blog on Monday despite demands from Tarantino's lawyers to take
it down.
They argued the site had effectively cost him royalties he might earn from the eventual publication of the script.
But Gawker said posting a link was part of its job to provide information.
"News of the fact that it existed on the internet advanced a story that Tarantino himself had launched, and our publication of the link was a routine and unremarkable component of our job: making people aware of news and information about which they are curious,'' the site's editor-in-chief John Cook said.
In a post, Gawker added it would be fighting the case, adding that, to its knowledge, "no claim of contributory infringement has prevailed in the US over a news story".
The lawsuit seeks damages of $1m (£603,000) against Gawker as well as $1m against the anonymous file-sharing site where the leaked script was hosted.
'Project abandoned'
Quentin Tarantino sues Gawker over Hateful Eight script link
This story presents an interesting problem about the boundaries of Freedom of Speech....and especially how bitter the conflict can come when the topic of money " rears its lovely head" as James Thurber once said about paid for his first stories and cartoons..
Quentin Tarantino says he will no longer produce The Hateful Eight as a film after the leak
US
director Quentin Tarantino has sued gossip website Gawker for
contributory copyright infringement after it posted a link to a leaked
screenplay.
They argued the site had effectively cost him royalties he might earn from the eventual publication of the script.
But Gawker said posting a link was part of its job to provide information.
"News of the fact that it existed on the internet advanced a story that Tarantino himself had launched, and our publication of the link was a routine and unremarkable component of our job: making people aware of news and information about which they are curious,'' the site's editor-in-chief John Cook said.
In a post, Gawker added it would be fighting the case, adding that, to its knowledge, "no claim of contributory infringement has prevailed in the US over a news story".
The lawsuit seeks damages of $1m (£603,000) against Gawker as well as $1m against the anonymous file-sharing site where the leaked script was hosted.
'Project abandoned'
Tarantino has previously published scripts of his films, a practice in the past has earned him hefty royalties and advances.
"There was nothing newsworthy or journalistic about Gawker Media facilitating and encouraging the public's violation of [Tarantino's] copyright in the screenplay, and its conduct will not shield Gawker Media from liability for their unlawful activity," the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit also alleges the leak was originally only limited to a few people, and The Hateful Eight script did not appear online until after Gawker posted an item encouraging anyone who had a copy to leak it to them.
The writer-director blasted the leak last week in an interview with entertainment industry website Deadline.com and said he would abandon the project as a film.
"There was nothing newsworthy or journalistic about Gawker Media facilitating and encouraging the public's violation of [Tarantino's] copyright in the screenplay, and its conduct will not shield Gawker Media from liability for their unlawful activity," the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit also alleges the leak was originally only limited to a few people, and The Hateful Eight script did not appear online until after Gawker posted an item encouraging anyone who had a copy to leak it to them.
The writer-director blasted the leak last week in an interview with entertainment industry website Deadline.com and said he would abandon the project as a film.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave a comment-- or suggestions, particularly of topics and places you'd like to see covered