Gawker has filed a motion to dismiss Quentin Tarantino‘s copyright lawsuit, arguing that the court does not have jurisdiction over the holding company that owns it.
Tarantino sued Gawker Media Group, Inc. over an article the site published that included a link to his latest script, “The Hateful Eight.” The suit alleged “Gawker Media crossed the journalistic line by promoting itself to the public as the first source to read the entire screenplay illegally” on its Defamer site.
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Yet Gawker’s latest filing claims that because GMGI is based in Cayman Islands, the California court does not have jurisdiction over it. Gawker Media, the publisher of Gawker.com, is solely responsible.
“By contrast, GMGI did not play any role in connection with the January 23 news article at issue, be it writing, editing, publishing the article or including the hyperlinks,” the suit says. “Moreover, GMGI has no operations or employees in California or elsewhere. Rather, it is a Cayman Islands holding company. Id. Its sole assets are equity securities in its subsidiaries, one of which is defendant Gawker Media, LLC.”
Pamela Chelin contributed to this story.