Marvel is closing in on the source of a script leak Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania before the movie was released, and it plans to take legal action, a Disney company source tells me The Hollywood Reporter.
A federal judge in California on Monday issued subpoenas to Reddit and Google ordering them to identify the users who leaked the dialogue. The warrant came after the company requested information about whoever posted the film’s then-unreleased dialogue to the r/MarvelStudiosSpoilers subreddit.
Marvel will likely file a lawsuit against the person or group responsible for the leak. That could include a referral to prosecutors for criminal copyright infringement.
Moderators on the subreddit dedicated to spoilers for Marvel movies posted the subtitle file for Marvel movies on January 20 Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania after unconfirmed details of the plot were leaked to the site a few months earlier. The moderators said the subtitles confirmed the leak. The script was reportedly in a different language, requiring translation into English before posting.
On Friday, Marvel requested “all identifying information” for the users using r/MarvelStudiosSpoilers, in addition to “all other users responsible for posting, editing, and/or maintaining the content” on the subreddit from January 15 to February 15.
Google also received a subpoena for hosting a Google Docs file containing the script, which was too long to post on Reddit.
The subpoena was filed under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which allows copyright owners to obtain information that identifies alleged infringers. The law is intended to criminalize practices designed to circumvent measures that control access to copyrighted works.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania joined the ranks of other Marvel movies, including Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Spider-Man: No Way Home And Doctor Strange in the multiverse of madness, of which plot details leaked prior to their theatrical debut. In the COVID-19 era, Marvel has had an increasingly difficult time keeping its secrets as more people have access to sensitive information. For example, the pool of potential leaks has expanded with the need for more VFX artists, who regularly work from home.
Marvel could point to the incident being taken up by prosecutors. To substantiate a claim of criminal copyright infringement, the defendant must have intentionally infringed copyright and attempted to monetize the infringement. Prosecutors could also find that the defendant made a work available to the public online with the knowledge that the copyright owner intended to distribute it commercially in the foreseeable future, rather than having to prove that the infringer intended to gain a commercial advantage. at the expense of the copyright holder.
In a statement, a Reddit spokesperson said the company is “committed to protecting the privacy of our users” and has “rigorous processes in place to review legal requests and object when appropriate.”
Marvel Studios and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.