Netflix has been sued for $105 million by a UK-based production company and a filmmaker who alleged that the streaming platform lost a hard drive containing a copy of an unreleased World War II espionage film. According to a CBS report, the complaint has been filed in California district court. It alleges that the film’s associate producer, Daniel Haido, hand-delivered an unencrypted master copy of the movie “Fortitude” to Netflix for a private screening as the company considered acquiring its distribution rights. The World War II spy thriller stars Nicolas Cage as real-life spy Dusko Popov, along with Sir Ben Kingsley and Ron Perlman.
Plaintiffs claim film’s value has been damaged
The plaintiffs argue the incident has undermined the film’s exclusivity and made potential buyers less likely to purchase it. However, a little more than a week later, Netflix informed the filmmakers that the hard drive had been stolen. “Someone stole a good amount of drives from our office desks this past week,” a Netflix executive wrote in the email, according to the suit.The lawsuit says “Fortitude” took more than seven years to make and cost about $45 million. The filmmakers argue that studios may now avoid buying the film because an unauthorized copy could be released online.“The film’s value depended in significant part on its exclusivity as an unreleased, first-to-market work,” the complaint states. “By losing control of the film, Netflix destroyed that exclusivity and materially, if not completely, impaired the film’s marketability.”
Netflix disputes responsibility
A Netflix spokesperson told CBS News that the company disputes the claims. “Netflix disputes any claim that it bears the risk of loss for a film delivered without the proper industry-standard safeguards,” the spokesperson told the publication.The company added that it has offered to monitor piracy websites for any unauthorized distribution or sale of the movie. “While we do not own the rights to Fortitude, we take content security seriously and have taken extra measures to support the filmmaker and his team,” the spokesperson said.
