Remember when Marvel was set to debut the Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer during an episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and then the trailer leaked early and we were all happy because early is better than on time? Yeah, apparently Marvel wasn’t cool with that and their lawyers are working with Google to track down the person who brought us all joy. Illegal joy. Joy we should be ashamed of.
Marvel is moving swiftly on the possibility it has an Avengers: Age of Ultron leaker in its midst, going to a California federal court for the issuance of a subpoena on Google.
The entertainment company says in court documents that someone using the name “John Gazelle” posted a file of the film on a Google Drive account. On October 22, a lawyer at Marvel parent Disney sent Google a takedown notice pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, requesting that Google expeditiously remove the file.
But Marvel wants more identifying information about the alleged infringer. The company is going after the IP address associated with this user’s YouTube and Google+ accounts.
This isn’t just about someone wrecking Marvel’s bid to get Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. a few cheap ratings points, either. It sounds like Marvel is trying to send a message to leakers and uploaders that they will track them down when their intellectual property rights are violated.
I’m sure you’ve heard, but Marvel just announced an ambitious slate of movies that are bound to make us all itch and twitch with anticipation. It’s only natural that they would want to control the release of information about those movies and maximize the earning potential of those things and their connected properties. This racket ain’t about capes and hammers, kid, it’s about dollars and cents.
Also, I assume that they’ve ruled out Idris Elba as the possible leaker, which is good, because when Marvel catches whoever did this, I’m pretty sure justice will be swift and substantial.
Via THR