14 DAY TRIAL // Lionsgate has been granted the green light to seize the assets of six file-sharing sites that distributed the infamous leaked copy of “The Expendables 3.”
All bank accounts and other financial assets associated with these six sites will be frozen, while their site domain names are also at risk, TorrentFreak reports.
A couple of weeks ago, a DVD screener of “The Expendables 3” hit theaters, well ahead of the official theater launch, which made fans scramble to get ahold of the movie, albeit through not-so-legal means.
Lionsgate has been trying to clean up the mess left in the wake of the leak and has been sending thousands of takedown notices to sites left and right, trying to limit the film’s availability. A few sites, however, refused to comply with the requests.
Last week, the movie studio sued the operators of six sites that did not take down the requested links – Limetorrents.com, Billionuploads.com, Hulkfile.eu, Swankshare.com, Dotsember.com and Played.to. All of them are accused of copyright infringement and Lionsgate sought a permanent injunction to stop the distribution of the movie, and the seizure of these sites’ assets.
A judge finally agreed with Lionsgate and granted a broad preliminary injunction which prevents the sites from hosting and linking to copies of “The Expendables 3.” As mentioned, the sites may also lose their domain names, although the case is still a bit away from this point.
Their bank accounts and financial assets have been frozen, including savings, loan associations, payment processors, and all other financial connections. The seized funds will be used to compensate for Lionsgate’s losses.
“Such an asset freeze is appropriate in this case to preserve Lionsgate’s right to such recovery against Defendants, who are trafficking in the stolen film and may secret assets to insulate them from judgment,” the judge notes.
“The Expendables 3” landed online a couple of weeks ago after someone leaked a DVD screener. It seems that the movie could have been out even earlier if pirates hadn’t been scared to leak the content.
An anonymous individual was looking to find someone to help him leak a copy of a movie without getting caught. There was never a mention of the movie’s title, but now it seems pretty obvious that this was “The Expendables” he was talking about because it’s the only major leak to take place in a while.
The message was actually posted some ten days before the movie hit torrent sites.