January 27, 2014

Quentin Tarantino Sues Gawker for Linking to Leaked Script: “This Time They Went Too Far”

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Quentin_Tarantino_C%C3%A9sars_2011.jpg">Georges Biard</a>/Wikimedia Commons

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Oscar-winning writer/director Quentin Tarantino is suing Gawker Media. The filmmaker, who is famous for such films as Pulp Fiction and Inglourious Basterds, is taking legal action after his script for a future project (a Western flick called The Hateful Eight) leaked online. Tarantino became “very, very depressed” about this, so much so that he shelved the project. And last Thursday, Gawker‘s “Defamer” blog published a post titled, “?Here Is the Leaked Quentin Tarantino Hateful Eight Script.”

“For better or worse, the document is 146 pages of pure Tarantino. Enjoy!” the post reads, linking to a free download of Tarantino’s draft.

For that, the the 50-year-old director filed a copyright lawsuit against Gawker Media for allegedly promoting and disseminating unauthorized copies of the leaked document, the Hollywood Reporter reported on Monday. “Gawker Media has made a business of predatory journalism, violating people’s rights to make a buck,” Tarantino’s lawsuit, which was filed by attorneys Martin Singer and Evan Spiegel in California federal court, reads. “This time they went too far.”

As of posting, John Cook, editor of Gawker, has not responded to Mother Jones‘ request for comment. (UPDATE, January 27, 2014, 5:47 p.m. EST: John Cook weighs in in a blog post titled, “Quentin Tarantino Sues Gawker Over Link to Script He Wants Online.”)

The lawsuit also alleges that Gawker actively solicited readers to provide a copy of the screenplay with this blog post. Tarantino is seeking more than $1 million in damages and the defendants’ profits. Read the formal legal complaint here (via Deadline.com):

 

 

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At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

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So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

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