‘Expendables 3’ Leak Sparks Copyright Lawsuit From Lionsgate

Suit claims that several websites made the Sylvester Stallone action movie available without permission

Lionsgate Films is not taking the internet leak of its upcoming action film “The Expendables 3” lying down.

The company has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against several parties over the high-quality leak of the film, which stars Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, among other action-film stars.

Also read: How Much Will Piracy of ‘The Expendables 3’ Cost Lionsgate?

The suit, filed in U.S. district court in central California on Thursday, claims that it reached out to numerous sites on multiple occasions asking them to remove the film, which premieres Aug. 15, but received no responses. Further, according to the legal filing, the illegal files are still readily available on these sites.

The lawsuit names several John Does as defendants, but cites websites including limetorrents.com, billionuploads.com, hulkfile.eu, and swankshare.com.

Lionsgate is asking that the defendants be prohibited from hosting, linking, reproducing, selling, streaming the film, or making it available for download.

See photos: 21 Must-See Cannes Movies: From ‘Foxcatcher’ to ‘Expendables 3’

The suit is also asking for unspecified damages.

According to the lawsuit, the first two installments of the “Expendables” franchise have generated more than $575 million.

Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.

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