A federal judge has ordered a temporary stop to an online leak of the forthcoming Sylvester Stallone action film “The Expendables 3.”
In Monday’s temporary restraining order, U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Morrow instructed the operators of six file-sharing websites — known as torrent sites — to immediately stop linking to the film or in any way infringing upon Lionsgate’s copyright.
The judge wrote in the TRO, which was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter, that Lionsgate “has established that it will suffer irreparable harm in the absence of immediate relief.”
Lionsgate filed suit last week against 10 anonymous individuals allegedly responsible for illegally sharing a stolen digital copy of “The Expendables 3” weeks before the thriller’s Aug. 15 release.
The entertainment company contends the film has so far been downloaded 2.1 million times worldwide, including roughly 247,000 times in the United States.
Morrow wrote that piracy of the film is interfering with Lionsgate’s contractual relationships with third parties, damaging its “goodwill among consumers,” and depriving the company of revenue “that will be difficult or impossible to calculate.”
