Sony Threatens to Sue News Outlets Over Published Emails

Sony Pictures Entertainment is hoping that the threat of a lawsuit can help stop the spread of private company documents.

Over the past week, Sony has experienced a major embarrassment after company records, employee files, and private emails were exposed by hackers. Considered one of the largest digital breaches against an American company, Sony is now worried that more stolen information will be leaked to various news organization. To stop it from going public, Sony’s attorney has issued letters to several major news outlets threatening a potential lawsuit if material is published online or in print.

“stolen information” – publicly available on the Internet by the gigabytes – should be returned or destroyed immediately because it contains privileged, private information. Boies said the studio could sue for damages or financial losses related to Sony’s intellectual property or trade secrets.

Sony “does not consent to your possession, review, copying, dissemination, publication, uploading, downloading or making any use of the stolen information, and to request your cooperation in destroying the stolen information,” according to one letter sent to the Hollywood Reporter newspaper and obtained by the website Gawker, which also received a letter.

Boies hinted at legal action if organizations “used or disseminated” the material “in any manner.” The New York Times also received a letter, the newspaper reported Sunday.”

The leak exposed not-so-positive thoughts about A-list actors/actresses like Angelina Jolie, Kevin Hart, and even jokes about President Barack Obama, which were stated through email exchange by Sony top executives.

Source: AP