Marvel may have joked that Hydra was behind the leak of the "Avengers: Age of Ultron" trailer last month, but the studio wants real answers as to who illegally uploaded the first-look video for the much-anticipated sequel.
A California federal court has granted Marvel a subpoena against Google for the tech giant to turn over any identifying information on the alleged leaker. The court acted quickly, granting the request within 24 hours for the "far-reaching subpoena to probe the October 22 leak," according to Deadline.
Google is "COMMANDED to produce at the time, date, and place set forth below the following documents, electronically stored information, or objects, and to permit inspection, copying, testing, or sampling of the material," the court document reads.
Marvel identified the alleged culprit as "John Gazelle" in its initial documents entered into court, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "Gazelle" allegedly posted a file of the film on a Google Drive account. When the video went live on Oct. 22, a lawyer for Marvel parent company Disney sent Google a "takedown notice pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act," to immediately remove the file.
The subpoena requires Google provide "all identifying information for the user 'John Gazelle' who posted a file named ap_tlr-1_int_360p.mp4 and containing content known as 'Avengers: Age of Ultron'" that was uploaded to the Google Drive Site. The information must be presented on Nov. 18 in San Francisco.
Marvel had planned to release the "Avengers: Age of Ultron" trailer on Oct. 28 during an episode of "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." Within hours of the leak, the studio released the official trailer on its YouTube page and instead aired a special sneak peek clip during "S.H.I.E.L.D." the next week.
Another bootleg clip from the film that featured Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. also ended up online last. The video appears to be shot inside the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood where Marvel announced its Phase 3 slate of films. It's not clear whether the subpoena covers the discovery of the leaker for this video.
