Last week, the script for Quentin Tarantino's next film, The Hateful Eight, was leaked. This led Tarantino to announce that he was canceling the project, publishing the script in book form, and moving on to his next film. Also last week, Gawker published links to the leaked Hateful Eight film script. Now Tarantino has taken legal action by suing Gawker Media, according to Mike Fleming, Jr at Deadline:

Here is the crux of the legal complaint obtained by Deadline: “Gawker Media has made a business of predatory journalism, violating people’s right to make a buck. This time they’ve gone too far. Rather than merely publishing a news story reporting that Plaintiff’s screenplay may have been circulating in Hollywood without his permission, Gawker Media crossed the journalistic line by promoting itself to the public as the first source to read the entire screenplay illegally. Their headline boasts, ‘Here is the leaked Quentin Tarantino Hateful Eight Script’ — here, not someplace else, but ‘here’ on the Gawker website. The article then contains multiple direct links for downloading the entire screenplay through a conveniently anonymous URL by simply clicking button-links on the Gawker page, and brazenly encourages Gawker visitors to read the screenplay illegally with an invitation to ‘enjoy’ it. There was nothing newsworthy or journalistic about Gawker Media facilitating and encouraging the public’s violation of Plaintiff’s copyright in the screenplay, and its conduct will not shield Gawker Media from liability for their unlawful activity.”

On the one hand, the script leak was news. They were just reporting on the leak. On the other hand, that headline does seem unnecessarily boastful. What do you think?