3 Count: Expendable Flop

Jonathan BaileyAugust 18, 2014

2 minutes read

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1: ‘Expendables 3′ Flops: Is Piracy to Blame?

First off today, Brent Lang at Variety reports that the film The Expendables 3 fell far short of expectations, earning only $16.2 million in its opening weekend. Studio executives placed the blame on a high-quality leaked version of the film that appeared online some three weeks before it opened in theaters and was downloaded 2.2 million times from BitTorrent sites.

The launch was the weakest launch for a film in the “Expendables” franchise. The first in the series opened with $34.8 million and the second debuted to $28.6 million. Lionsgate, the company behind the film, has already launched lawsuits against sites that shared the film and, if it gets its way, those who leaked the video.

Observers, however, note that other factors may have conspired against the film including fatigue over the series and other strong box office competition, including Guardians of the Galaxy and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

2: Warner Music subsidiary wins copyright infringement suit against IKEA

Next up today, RAPSI is reporting that, in Russia, a Moscow Region Commercial Court has partially granted a lawsuit filed by SBA Music Publishing, a subsidiary of Warner Music Russia, against IKEA over music used in an online video.

The lawsuit centered around a video produced by Sibweek for IKEA that featured the song “That’s The Way (I Like It)” by Finch Richards and Casey Harry. According to SBA, they own the rights to the song and did not offer a license for its use in the video.

The video was posted on Sibweek’s YouTube account and not on an official IKEA account. IKEA claimed that they could not be held liable but the court disagreed. However, where SBA had asked for 250,000 rubles ($6,900) in damages, the court only awarded 50,000 rubles ($1,300).

3: Thirst Unreleased Doctor Who Episode Leaks Online

Finally today, Andy at Torrentfreak writes a third episode from the upcoming Doctor Who series has leaked online, opening up the likelihood that the rest of the first six episode may also soon appear.

The first episode of the new series, which is slated to begin this Saturday, leaked online several weeks ago with rumors that other episodes may leak as well. However, the second episode appeared just late last week and the third over the weekend.

The episodes are incomplete, in black and white, missing many special effects and heavily-watermarked, making them less-than ideal for viewing. The files were reportedly downloaded from BBC Miami’s server, where they were accidentally published publicly in a hidden folder as they were being shared for translation and transcription work.

Suggestions

That’s it for the three count today. We will be back tomorrow with three more copyright links. If you have a link that you want to suggest a link for the column or have any proposals to make it better. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. I hope to hear from you.