Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino is suing Gawker Media for contributory copyright infringement after the website published a linked to the script of his latest project "The Hateful Eight".
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gawker's link contributed to the 146-page script being spread around on the Internet, infringing on his creative rights. The original story was posted on Gawker's site called the Defamer.
"Gawker Media has made a business of predatory journalism, violating people's rights to make a buck," Tarantino's lawsuit stated, THR reports. "This time, they went too far. Rather than merely publishing a news story reporting that Plaintiff's screenplay may have been circulating in Hollywood without his permission, Gawker Media crossed the journalistic line by promoting itself to the public as the first source to read the entire Screenplay illegally."
Tarantino's lawsuit also claims the site refused to take down the link despite multiple requests for the Gawker to do so. However, the viral media site claims they had every right to link to the website as it was considered "news."
"Defamer covers what people in Hollywood are talking about. Thanks to Tarantino's shrewd publicity strategy, the leak of The Hateful Eight-and the content of the script-had been widely dissected online and was a topic of heated conversation among Defamer readers," Gawker said in a statement.
"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," Gawker continued.
Gawker is adamant reports stating the website leaked Tarantino's script are false. The media group also claims no employee had access to the leaked script until a third party made the files available through AnonFiles.
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