AMC Threatening Copyright Lawsuit Over Potential Walking Dead Spoiler

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Since I am obviously not a lawyer, someone that is an attorney or is familiar with the law, has to tell me if this is legal or not. I could see if they are in fact in possession of " copyright protected, trade secret information" but, according to The Spoiling Dead Fans, they have no such thing and they are just good at guessing. And, before anyone says anything, we are familiar with the tactics of frivolous lawsuits that force people into paying to defend themselves against bogus claims. I just want to know if AMC is within its rights to say "if your prediction is right, we will sue."

After two years, AMC finally reached out to us! But it wasn’t a request not to post any info about the Lucille Victim or any type of friendly attempt at compromise, it was a cease and desist and a threat of a lawsuit by AMC Holdings, LLC’s attorney, Dennis Wilson. They say we can’t make any type of prediction about the Lucille Victim. Their stance is that making such a prediction would be considered copyright infringement. AMC tells us that we made some claim somewhere that says we received “copyright protected, trade secret information about the most critical plot information in the unreleased next season of The Walking Dead” and that we announced we were going to disclose this protected information. We still aren't sure where we supposedly made this claim because they did not identify where it was.
 
Case of copyright going too far. Retarded this is. I think I may just have to pirate the shit out of the next season just because of this.
 
I think the problem with the Spoiling Dead is they have been fairly right about things. They were right about Glenn crawling up under a trash dumpster, they were right that the ending of the season would be a fade to black event and they have been right about various other little things. So it does strongly suggest they have some kind of insider information.

Though it seems the other problem is other people go and read the post and then post that information on other sites without the spoiler warnings. The things people will do, so that others will think they are awesome.

Shotglass01 said:
Case of copyright going too far. Retarded this is. I think I may just have to pirate the shit out of the next season just because of this.
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Yeah, that's the way to stick it to you show you like, one that can be watched on AMC.com for free anyways. Nice to see the kneejerk response of "I'm gonna pirate it to teach them a lesson!!"
 
bloodhawke83 said:
but the comics tell you and its been out for years now...... AMC gone full retard.
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exactly...unless they are somehow changing who dies and this spoiler site published this info...even then they can't prove anything...I can make a guess and it just might happen to be right...Daryl dies!
 
Don't see how predicting in your own words how a story is going to play out before the author releases it can be any kind of copyright violation. If they have some kind of insider information, might be able to make a case for corporate espionage. If they have a back door into the AMC script computers, maybe a computer crimes violation.

Guessing AMC claimed copyright issues since they probably have a fully paid staff of copyright lawyers sitting around. Corporate espionage lawyers would cost extra. And it appears that AMC's plan worked.
 
Dalexx said:
Yeah, that's the way to stick it to you show you like, one that can be watched on AMC.com for free anyways. Nice to see the kneejerk response of "I'm gonna pirate it to teach them a lesson!!"
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Not sure where you live, but that's not the case for me. I can't watch it without a cable sub or paying for it with other outlets.
 
Aye, I'm pretty sure making a prediction without insider information is freedom of speech. Unless AMC has evidence to prove these guys are getting information, they need to take the high road and just back off.

Heck, remember The Hateful Eight script leak? It was ruled that Gawker did not commit copyright infringement when they linked to a copy of the script (hosted elsewhere). So simply discussing it, unless protected by an NDA that the person discussing it signed, is not likely to hold up.
 
Just more proof we need a "loser pays" system in place in our courts... anyone is free to bring retarded and baseless cases against someone... but if you don't have evidence, or your case is total shit, the one who filed gets to pay all legal fees involved.

Imagine if the lottery commission refused to pay if you matched 6 out of 6 numbers because "there's no possible way you could have known the outcome before it happened, so obviously you cheated or had inside information'.


Fuck AMC.
 
Something similar happened in the early interweb days, you have Star Wars and Star Trek, which is better? Well people who loved Star Wars, and made webpages with pictures of insignias or images
collegeboy69us said:
Just more proof we need a "loser pays" system in place in our courts... anyone is free to bring retarded and baseless cases against someone... but if you don't have evidence, or your case is total shit, the one who filed gets to pay all legal fees involved.

Fuck AMC.
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Nah we just need judges who are wise enough to throw out frivolous cases before they are allowed to see a court room, then if the judge allows it then that judge is pur on the hot seat for allowing it to go through
 
I'd like to see a judge order them, "Back to back, walk forward 10 paces, turn and fire". Barbaric, I know, but lawsuits like this sometimes demand something like this.
 
I think the wording is a bit sketchy. I'd say they have somebody on the inside that is giving them information. So rather than it being a "Prediction" it's more of a "Leak" in AMC's eyes.
 
lol, they're publishing spying pictures from the series location shoots and writing spoilers based on that. See here: The Spoiling Dead Fans

I can see how this might be interesting to some people, and AMC is probably going after the wrong people, but I can understand why AMC's panties are in a bunch over this.
 
wgm3446 said:
I think the wording is a bit sketchy. I'd say they have somebody on the inside that is giving them information. So rather than it being a "Prediction" it's more of a "Leak" in AMC's eyes.
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Then that is an issue to take up with the leak who is in violation of an NDA.

I can summarize a plot without committing copyright violation. It's bullshit legal bullying, and AMC would be well advised to whip up a press release saying their lawyers did this without asking us first and stop this nonsense right now.

Telling fans that being fans outside of watching the talking dead and commenting on amc.com or other approved amc fora is a good way to wind down the series if you have no idea how to wrap it up and call it done. I don't think they are at that point though, so they might want to reevaluate the situation.
 
Well, it looks like what AMC has been doing is nothing short of stalking and harassment and because they know these people can't fight back, they are escalating their threats and intimidation tactics. AMC has shown themselves to now be a scumbag house.
 
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